The Help Improve Proofing Tools feature for Office must be configured.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-17627	DTOO182	SV-52719r3_rule		Medium

Description
The "Help Improve Proofing Tools" feature collects data about use of the Proofing Tools, such as additions to the custom dictionary, and sends it to Microsoft. After about six months, the feature stops sending data to Microsoft and deletes the data collection file from the user's computer. Although this feature does not intentionally collect personal information, some of the content sent could include items that were marked as spelling or grammar errors, such as proper names and account numbers. However, any numbers such as account numbers, street addresses, and phone numbers are converted to zeroes when the data is collected. Microsoft uses this information solely to improve the effectiveness of the Office Proofing Tools, not to identify users. By default, this feature is enabled, if users choose to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). If an organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as the CEIP, allowing the use of the "Help Improve Proofing Tools" feature might cause them to violate these policies.

Description

The "Help Improve Proofing Tools" feature collects data about use of the Proofing Tools, such as additions to the custom dictionary, and sends it to Microsoft. After about six months, the feature stops sending data to Microsoft and deletes the data collection file from the user's computer. Although this feature does not intentionally collect personal information, some of the content sent could include items that were marked as spelling or grammar errors, such as proper names and account numbers. However, any numbers such as account numbers, street addresses, and phone numbers are converted to zeroes when the data is collected. Microsoft uses this information solely to improve the effectiveness of the Office Proofing Tools, not to identify users. By default, this feature is enabled, if users choose to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). If an organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as the CEIP, allowing the use of the "Help Improve Proofing Tools" feature might cause them to violate these policies.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Office System 2013 STIG	2018-09-05

Details

Check Text ( C-47047r5_chk )
Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Tools >> Options >> Spelling >> Proofing Data Collection "Improve Proofing Tools" is set to "Disabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following hive: HKEY_Users For every users profile hive under HKEY_Users, navigate to the following key: \Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common\ptwatson If the value “PTWOptIn” is REG_DWORD = 0 for every user profile hive, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-47047r5_chk )

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Tools >> Options >> Spelling >> Proofing Data Collection "Improve Proofing Tools" is set to "Disabled".

Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following hive:
HKEY_Users

For every users profile hive under HKEY_Users, navigate to the following key:
\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common\ptwatson

If the value “PTWOptIn” is REG_DWORD = 0 for every user profile hive, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-45644r1_fix)
Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 -> Tools \ Options \ Spelling -> Proofing Data Collection "Improve Proofing Tools" to "Disabled".