Google Desktop indexes Password protected Office Documents

Hi

Just discovered a rather nasty security flaw of Google Desktop, it seems it gets a bit overzealous in its search to index documents

Create a password protected word or excel document and save it. Give it a few minutes and then search for the file name or contents. Google desktop appears to be able to open the file and display the contents regardless of the encryption. It also displays the 1st few lines of the encrypted file in the search results and if you click on the "cached" link it can display the entire contents of the file.

I can only assume Google desktop has indexed the file when its open in Excel or Word and it doesn't actually crack the encryption on it after its saved to disk.

When you click on the filename returned in the search results you will get prompted by word or excel to enter the password as usual.

My only advice is to specifically exclude the paths to any password protected files. Also exclude paths to any encrypted PGPDisk or TrueCrypt mapped drives as Google Desktop will also return results in these even when not mounted.