Scammers can get round password protected PDFs

Report · Sep 20, 2023

I write crochet patterns which people pay to download. I create them by "Save As PDF" in Word. Recently a scammer has bought my file and then edited it. They have removed all my branding, watermarks etc and put their own on, they are now selling it themselves. I've done a take down notice and the hosting company removed it promptly but the scammer just sets up another website and we go round in circles playing cat and mouse which is a waste of my time. No-one seems to be able to shut him down, I've run out of places to report them to, no-one does anything. I would like to protect my future patterns. I was wondering if it would be worthwhile upgrading my Acrobat so I can password protect my files. However, a tech savvy friend says scammers can easily get round Adobe's PDF password protection and has told me how to do it (I won't publicise how here as I don't believe that sort of method should be widely circulated). I know it is easy for scammers to remove watermarks and page footers once they can edit and they can also remove watermarks in images.

Are there *aany* steps I can take using Acrobat to make a PDF impossible to edit or put something on it to let buyers know they are purchasing MY pattern and not the scammers?

Report · Sep 21, 2023

Any form of password protection is better than none. Having said that, there are ways to crack files that are password protected. You have a choice of different levels of password security in Acrobat (which affects which versions of Acrobat can open the file). If you select Acrobat X and later and use a long password, you are safer than with an earlier method and a short password. If you want to get even more protected, then use "Certificate security". This is a lot more involved in setting up and protecting the documents, but also much safer.