Microsoft has made available for download a bulk decryption and encryption tool for AD RMS. Labeled the Active Directory Rights Management Services Bulk Protection Tool, the utility was offered for download at the end of October 2009. Although the moniker is self-explanatory, what Microsoft is offering is a command-line tool capable of bulk decrypting AD RMS protected files. Of course that decryption is not the sole functionality featured by the tool, as customers will also be able to bulk encrypt multiple files to a rights-policy template.

Clinton Ho, Saket Kataruka, and Adeel Zaidi from the AD RMS Bulk Protection Tool Team explained that the AD RMS Bulk Protection Tool was put together and offered for download in accordance with feedback from customers. “The AD RMS Bulk Protection Tool is a command-line tool that can decrypt multiple AD RMS protected files or encrypt multiple files to a predefined rights-policy template. This tool can be used to perform e-discovery of content for litigation or audit purposes, or to safeguard existing sensitive data on company shares. It also works in conjunction with the File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 to classify and protect sensitive company data,” Zaidi noted.

Customers looking to leverage the AD RMS Bulk Protection Tool will be able to do so on top of the following platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2. At the same time, running XP means that users will also require RMS Client SP2 and .NET Framework 2.0 SP2. Microsoft noted that Outlook 2007 was also necessary in scenarios in which items within PST files were decrypted.

Zaidi shared a few features of the Active Directory Rights Management Services Bulk Protection Tool: “Simple command-line interface; Bulk decrypt RMS supported files and items within Outlook PSTs; Bulk encrypt RMS supported files to a custom template; Extensible to other file formats via IRM protector implementation.”

The Active Directory Rights Management Services Bulk Protection Tool is available for download here.