The document discusses metadata and how to prevent unintentional disclosure of sensitive information hidden in electronic documents. It defines metadata as "data about data" and describes common types of metadata like comments, author names and edit histories. It highlights real cases where metadata disclosed confidential information. The document recommends using the Microsoft Remove Hidden Data tool to scrub metadata from documents before sharing and outlines best practices for metadata removal and secure document sharing.

1. Housing & Copyright: For internal
Development Board distribution in HDB only
Brought to you by:
INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT Date : 28 Oct 2005
Speaker: Venue: HDB Hub
SSA Mooi Jiann Woei Punggol Room
Information Services Department

2. Housing &
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Agenda
 Introduction
 Objectives
 What is MetaData
 Types of MetaData
 How Information can be Disclosed Unintentionally
 Real Cases of Unintentional Disclosure
 Available Tools
 Sample Document with MetaData
 Removing MetaData
 Analyze Document after Removing MetaData
 Best Practices
Q&A
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3. Housing &
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Introduction
 HDB staff often need to publish or share electronic
documents with third parties.
 While hardcopy documents are apparent in their
content, electronic documents have some information
which are not apparent.
 These “hidden” information may be sensitive and if not
removed before publication or distribution, they may
cause embarrassment or damage to HDB.
 To minimize risk of disclosure or loss of confidential
information, we should understand the risks, adopt good
practices and use the appropriate tools to ensure data &
information remains confidential and secure.
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4. Housing &
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OBJECTIVES
 To create a better awareness of what is
Metadata;
 How to remove Metadata in Microsoft Office
Documents to prevent unintentional disclosure
of information.
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5. Housing &
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What is MetaData?
Metadata in its broadest sense, is data about data.
 Metadata are supporting data created by the Operating
System or Application Software when processing the
main data.
 Without metadata, certain features of the Applications
would not function well.
 Metadata is not unique to Microsoft Office applications.
All applications create some sort of metadata.
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6. Housing &
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Types of MetaData:
 Tracked changes
 Comments
 Deleted Text
 A note or annotation that an author or reviewer adds
to a document
 Names of previous authors and editors
 User Name and Computer Name.
 Your company or Organization name.
 The name of the network server or hard disk where
you save the document.
 Routing slip
 Macro, Many others
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7. Housing &
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How can information be disclosed
unintentionally
 Data can be “hidden” and forgotten:
 comments
 changes that are tracked
 hidden text, hidden columns/worksheets
 header and footer
 author name, revision numbers, routing slip, etc
 Failure to take appropriate steps to remove these data can
lead to unintentional disclosure.
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8. Real Cases of Unintentional Disclosure of Information

9. Real Cases of Unintentional Disclosure of Information

10. Housing &
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How can information be disclosed
unintentionally
Some of the settings in Microsoft applications that can
use metadata:
 When FAST SAVE Option is enabled
 When a Comment is inserted
 When routing slip is enabled
 When Tracked Changes are turned on
 When text are formatted as Hidden
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11. Housing &
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Available Tool
 The Microsoft Office 2003 Add-in “Remove Hidden Data” (RHD)
Tool is available free of charge at Microsoft website.
 The RHD tool has been distributed to all HDB staff using
Microsoft Office 2003.
 The RHD is easily available under the File menu.
 Run the RHD when your document is ready to publish.
 Recommended to save to a new file since collaboration data
like tracked changes and comments will be removed.
 RHD not available with Microsoft Office 2000. Recommended
to convert Office 2000 documents to Office 2003 documents and
then run the RHD to remove any metadata before distributing or
publishing.
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12. Housing &
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Microsoft Word
Document
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13. Housing & Fictitious Example of Hidden Data
Development Board
Comment[H1]: Not sure
A MetaData Sample: These are if his son is really
the summary of personal injured.
information which we may not
want to publish.
Comment[H2]: The announcement
is confidential. Do not disclose to
lessee until 1 Nov 05. The repair
is also free
Deleted: HDB will be announcing a
repair assistance scheme in Nov 05.
You may wish to wait for the scheme
to be effected or you could repair it
yourself now.
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 The document processed by RHD Tool will be marked as “read-
only”. Click “No” :
 To remove this “read-only”
warning prompt, click on the
Tools, Options, Security.
Then uncheck “Read-only
recommended”.
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18. Housing &
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 Run the RHD tool again and the following report will show that
metadata is no longer found:
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19. Housing &
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Best Practices
 Remove metadata before publishing, sharing
electronically.
 Remove metadata before printing hardcopies especially
for large document like tender document (ie. Tracked
changes may be printed unintentionally)
 Remove metadata before converting Office document to
other document format like PDF or HTML.
 Remove speaker notes from presentation files before
sharing/publishing
 Remove hidden text/columns/worksheets before
sharing/publishing
 Convert formulas to values in worksheet before
distributing/publishing
 Remove macros that are not needed
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Best Practices
 Turn off “Track Changes”
if not using this feature.
Toggle off Track Changes
using CTRL-SHFT-E key
stroke.
Ensure that “TRK” (tracking)
is greyed off at the status bar
below
This is to ensure that deleted
text and other changes are
not retained in the document.
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21. Housing &
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Best Practices
 If using “Track
Changes”, ensure that
SHOW changes are
turned on before sending
documents to others to
review and amend.
This is to ensure that
Reviewers can see the
changes they and others
made on the Screen.
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22. Housing &
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Best Practices
 Enable Display of
“Hidden Text”
This is to ensure that
Hidden Text is apparent in
the display.
Remove any Hidden Text
that is not needed.
Hidden Text cannot be removed
using “Remove Hidden Data”
Tool.
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23. Housing &
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Best Practices
 Enable “Warning before
printing, saving, or
sending file that contains
tracked changes or
comments” option (for
Microsoft Word only).
User will be warned if they
print a document with
tracked changes.
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24. Housing &
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Best Practices
 Enable “Remove
Personal Information
from File Properties on
Save” option.
This option can only be
enabled on per file basis.
When enabled, some
(not all) of the metadata
will be removed. Running
the “Remove Hidden
Data” tool is the
preferred practice.
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25. Housing &
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Best Practices
 Disable “Fast Save”
option. Go to Tools,
Options, Save.
Ensure that “Allow Fast
Saves” option is
Unchecked.
This is to ensure that
deleted text is not
appended to the document
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 THANK YOU!!! 
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