Online content options must be configured for offline content availability.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-228532	DTOO345	SV-228532r508020_rule		Medium

Description
The Office 2013 Help system automatically searches MicrosoftOffice.com for content when a computer is connected to the Internet. Users can change this default by clearing the Search Microsoft Office.com for Help content when I'm connected to the Internet check box in the Privacy Options section of the Trust Center. If an organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as Office.com, allowing the Help system to download content might cause users to violate these policies.

Description

The Office 2013 Help system automatically searches MicrosoftOffice.com for content when a computer is connected to the Internet. Users can change this default by clearing the Search Microsoft Office.com for Help content when I'm connected to the Internet check box in the Privacy Options section of the Trust Center. If an organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as Office.com, allowing the Help system to download content might cause users to violate these policies.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Office System 2013 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-09-25

Details

Check Text ( C-30765r498874_chk )
Note: This check is Not Applicable when the use of Office 365 is against the specific DoD instance of O365. The use of Offline Content for Non-DoD instances of O365 is prohibited and it must not allow for personal account synchronization. All non-DoD instances are subject to this requirement. Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Tools >> Options >> General >> Service Options... >> Online Content "Online content options" is set to "Enabled: Do not allow Office to connect to the internet". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common\internet If the value 'UseOnlineContent' is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-30765r498874_chk )

Note: This check is Not Applicable when the use of Office 365 is against the specific DoD instance of O365.

The use of Offline Content for Non-DoD instances of O365 is prohibited and it must not allow for personal account synchronization.

All non-DoD instances are subject to this requirement.

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Tools >> Options >> General >> Service Options... >> Online Content "Online content options" is set to "Enabled: Do not allow Office to connect to the internet".

Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common\internet

If the value 'UseOnlineContent' is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-30750r498875_fix)
Set the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Tools >> Options >> General >> Service Options... >> Online Content "Online content options" to "Enabled: Do not allow Office to connect to the internet".