Finally, after 5 years of asking, we got file server for our office. We started a consultation with staff about how the shared folders should be arranged and access rights. But an interesting and very tiresome problem has emerged:

Our staff don't trust each other!!! They are afraid that someone will maliciously alter or damage their files.

Most of are asking to have their own private work directory that is not accessible to anyone else. I want to avoid this, as the whole idea was to improve file sharing and collaboration among the staff.

One option to boost confidence may be to give people a way to digitally sign their documents. Are there any tools to do this that are suitable for use by people with an 'office worker' level of computer literacy? Ideally it happen transparently or with one-click of a button. I don't really want to buy certificates either, since it is just for our internal use.

Finally, after 5 years of asking, we got file server for our office. We started a consultation with staff about how the shared folders should be arranged and access rights. But an interesting and very tiresome problem has emerged:

Our staff don't trust each other!!! They are afraid that someone will maliciously alter or damage their files.

Most of are asking to have their own private work directory that is not accessible to anyone else. I want to avoid this, as the whole idea was to improve file sharing and collaboration among the staff.

One option to boost confidence may be to give people a way to digitally sign their documents. Are there any tools to do this that are suitable for use by people with an 'office worker' level of computer literacy? Ideally it happen transparently or with one-click of a button. I don't really want to buy certificates either, since it is just for our internal use.

A digital certificate that one buys is for the purpose of identity on the internet, it does not protect a document like using a password or personal encryption, personal encryption needs a key to be send to the reader in order to decrypt the document - none of these are helpful to workgroup documents in an office situation.

You do not consult staffs on office rentals or security procedures, why ask them about access right to any server setup - thats solely up to the IT manager - the staffs are to use one and only one virtual document located on one spot on the server, and the IT manager will ensure that this is constantly backed-up and not subject to malicious attacks.

Instead of using personal computers running personal softwares, office should employ workgroup based intranet applications.... not ms words ...

I don't want people to encrypt anything, I just want to offer them the ability to digitally sign documents so that they can be confident that they have not been altered later on.

You do not consult staffs on office rentals or security procedures, why ask them about access right to any server setup - thats solely up to the IT manager

That may be true in a corporate environment with a well established IT infrastructure and policies. This is a small office where the management has very low computer literacy. Politically it is necessary to allow staff some input into how the shares should be set up in order to get them to accept it. Otherwise they just won't use it.

Digitally sign them, time-stamp, PDF document. Easy.

Bubba

why not setup a script to automatically generate a MD5 hash file that can't be modified exept by the uploader, this way if the document is modified by a malicious user, the md5 will be used to check the integrity of the document.

or setup rights wich the document can't be overwrited and thus further version of the document will have to be named by date or something else.

If your fileserver is Windows Server, you might want to look at Windows SharePoint Services, a free download and add-on. The traditional definition and method for 'file servers' has changed over the years.