When you encrypt a file or a hard drive, is it really secure?

[nsane.forums]

Porcupins asked the Antivirus & Security Software forum if encryption standards like AES really make your data secure.

There's no such thing as perfect security. Someone with sufficient time and money, and a strong enough motive, can crack anything.

So the real question becomes: Is your encryption secure enough. And the answer is: If your encryption software uses a recognized and respected standard such as AES or Blowfish, and you use strong passwords and take other precautions, it almost certainly is.

Given enough time or processing power, any password can be cracked through a brute force attack--where a program throws words and random character strings at an encrypted file until it stumbles upon the right password. But with a sufficiently strong password, the time and processing power required is just not practical.

To get an idea of how quickly a password can be cracked, check out How Secure is My Password? When I tried the word password, the web site told me that a conventional PC could crack it "almost instantly." On the other hand, if I used a random string of eight lowercase letters, my files would be safe for all of 52 seconds. But a string of 18 characters, including digits, punctuation, and upper- and lowercase letters, would remain safe for "3 quintillion years." I think that's sufficient--even assuming the use of hardware more powerful than a single PC.

But back up your strong passwords with other good habits. Always be suspicious about possible scams. Keep your security software up to date. Never share a password with anyone with whom you wouldn't share a credit card account. And if a Web site offers two-step verification, use it.

When you come right down to it, your security system doesn't have to be 100-percent impenetrable. It just needs to be harder to crack that most other, equally-tempting targets.

See Learn to use strong passwords for more on protecting yourself. And read the original forum discussion.

View: Original Article

[insanedown58]

LOL I typed in my FB Password and it said 8 Million Years XD

[DKT27]

LOL I typed in my FB Password and it said 8 Million Years XD

My strongest password may take 900 trillion years. :)

[SnakeMasteR]

It would take a desktop PC about 5 quintillion years to crack your password

I choosed that random out of my Sticky Password list and :wtf: :lmao:

[ande]

It would take a desktop PC about 2 novemdecillion years to crack your password.

Edit:

I bet they collect all this passwords for dictionary attack. :tehe:

[RdH]

It would take a desktop PC about

2 undecillion years

to crack your password

I think thats enough for me

:lol:

[dcs18]

So the real question becomes: Is your encryption secure enough. And the answer is: If your encryption software uses a recognized and respected standard such as AES or Blowfish, and you use strong passwords and take other precautions, it almost certainly is.

I'm afraid that's not true . . . . . . . . anymore - there are more variables than a strong password!!! :)

[voidoid]

LOL I typed in my FB Password and it said 8 Million Years XD

Now they possibly have your FB password. Better change it.

[Nima]

It would take a desktop PC about Infinity years to crack your password.

Just entered my nsane.forums password. :D

[SyafaTahvBroentoeng]

3 quintillion quadragintillion years

how much time was that?

whether I adequately protected?

[shought]

It would take a desktop PC about 2 novemdecillion years to crack your password.

Edit:

I bet they collect all this passwords for dictionary attack. :tehe:

14 quintillion years to crack nsane's server password (well, something that looks like it at least). You'd need to guess the username as well though, having said that the quest becomes pretty much impossible :P

ps I checked, they don't collect any of the information you put in that box ;)

[nclr11111]

Hmm, 194 septillion years for my True-Crypt volume pw. Guess that´s ok!