SAS
software enables you to restrict access to members of SAS libraries
by assigning passwords to the members. You can assign passwords to
all member types except catalogs. You can specify three levels of
protection: Read, Write, and Alter. When a password is assigned,
it appears as uppercase Xs in the log.
Note: This document uses the terms
SAS data file and SAS view to distinguish between the two types of
SAS data sets. Passwords work differently for type VIEW than they
do for type DATA. The term “SAS data set” is used when
the distinction is not necessary.
protects against reading
the file.
protects against changing
the data in the file. For SAS data files, write protection prevents
adding, modifying, or deleting observations.
protects against deleting
or replacing the entire file. For SAS data files, alter protection
also prevents modifying variable attributes and creating or deleting
indexes.
Alter protection does
not require a password for Read or Write access; write protection
does not require a password for Read access. For example, you can
read an alter-protected or write-protected SAS data file without knowing
the Alter or Write password. Conversely, read and write protection
do not prevent any operation that requires alter protection. For example,
you can delete a SAS data set that is read- or write-protected only
without knowing the Read or Write password.
To protect a file from
being read, written to, deleted, or replaced by anyone who does not
have the proper authority, assign read, write, and alter protection.
To allow others to read the file without knowing the password, but
not change its data or delete it, assign just write and alter protection.
To completely protect a file with one password, use the PW= data set
option. For more information,
see Assigning Complete Protection with the PW= Data Set Option.Note: Because of the way SAS opens
files, you must specify the Read password to update a SAS data set
that is only read-protected.