Secure… very, very secure. :-)
Users of Microsoft Office 2003 with files protected using Microsoft’s Rights Management Service found themselves unable to access those protected files on Friday.
Microsoft warned on Friday that a bug in Office was the cause.
CNET noted Microsoft’s acknowledgment of the bug on its Office Sustained Engineering blog:
“Starting on December 11, 2009, customers using Office 2003 will not be able to open Office 2003 documents protected with the Rights Management Service (RMS) or save Office 2003 documents protected with RMS. The following error message may be displayed when attempting to Open RMS Documents using Office 2003:
“Unexpected error occurred. Please try again later or contact your system administrator”
This symptom affects Office 2003 products used in conjunction with RMS, including Word 2003, Excel 2003, PowerPoint 2003, and Outlook 2003. It does not affect Office 2007.
We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and we will provide customers a solution as soon as we can. Any new updates and we will post the information here.”
The Technologizer blog noted the problem earlier and called it “a nightmare scenario.” 
(BTW, “scenarios” are usually imagined. This sounds more like a “disaster” to me, or Karma.)
(Note added December 14, 2009: Microsoft has fixed this Office 2003 bug with a patch. The problem resulted from the expiration of a certificate with a short-term expiration date.)
-Bill at
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