Folder Passwords

[Mewgen1]

Before I go into anything I feel I should warn you that I am a complete novice with anything relating to computer security so if you find a post that seems a little inane then please just bear with me.

That said: I am a member of my schools website class. Unfortunatley we do our work in a class room that already has 6 other classes in it, so there isnt a whole lot we have been able to do for making the website secure against people tampering with it. Recently someone decided it woudl be fun to go into the folder where the website data is stored and delete just random files, specifically most of the pictures for the page. I leui of this, we feel that we need to make this folder more secure.

I want to put a password on just the specific folder with the website data in it, so only the members of this class will be able to get access, but I have no idea about how to do this. It would be really great if someone woudl tell me how to do this, or give me tha addresses of any sites that have good information on this subject.

 

[Inaris]

If you have a network setup, which I suspect is the case, then there is a good chance the folder in question is on a network server. Also an assumption would be made that you are required to log into the network. If this is the case, then you should have a half way competent IT department that has designed some form of groups for network access rights. Again, if this is the case, then all that would be needed is to have the web group that you are working with set as the controller of that folder.
If the data is housed on a local machine drive, then there are several things to take into account.
If you are a local admin to the machine you can do a lot more. If the person that caused this trouble is a local admin (domain admin), they can undo anything you can do. Depending on the OS you are using there are several ways to setup folder rights. For windows 2k/xp you can encrypt the folder so that only those with the public key can gain access to that folder. Another option is to right click the folder and go to security. From there you can add specific people and groups who you want to have access. If you are an admin for this folder, you can make these changes. If not, then most likely you will not be able to.
There are also several folders password tools, but I haven't used them, so I can't tell you what they are.

If you do have some form of Network IT support, you might want to consult with them before doing any of this as they may have a way in place already.
Good luck.