Password protect power bi desktop + inactivity timeout with password prompt to take up session

[MNMstatistics]

Hi everyone, 

We are currently planning to use Power BI desktop on a project involving sensitive data.

Security people in my organisation argue that:

-Power BI desktop should be password protected: each time you open the app, credentials must be typed-in

-an inactivity timeout should be in place: each time a user is inactive for say 20 minutes, password is prompted to take up the work session.

Do you know a way to do this in Power BI desktop or else, via a third-party application? 

Cheers in advance for your answer, 

Kind regards, 

Ben

[jeroendekk · Accepted solution]

Hi @MNMstatistics 
Power BI desktop itself cannot be password protected (neither can a lot of apps, you cannot prevent a user from opening excel once he is logged into a system).

But you can encrypt a PBIX file (or any file really) to make sure it can only be opened by a certain user. 
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-encrypt-a-file-1131805c-47b8-2e3e-a705-807e13c10d... 

The locking of a screen after activity is also a standard windows 10 feature.
How to Make Windows 10 Lock Automatically After a Set Amount of Inactivity (groovypost.com)

This is done at the machine/user level not an individual app (which usually do not have this options) . Which is also how I think iit should be, because Power BI is not the only thing you want to be secure. Honestly everybody should already have this turned on if your security people are not slacking 😉. 

If you liked my solution, please give it a thumbs up. And if I did answer your question, please mark this post as a solution. Thanks!

Best regards,
Jeroen