windows zip encryption

Hey everyone,
Does anyone know how strong the encryption is for windows .zip files? I mean if you have a strong password and all? Is the password actually the salt, or key?

-Mike

I have seen a million zip password yankers. So I would have to say that zip password security is null.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by daxmax
[BI would have to say that zip password security is null. [/B]

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Its true, the winzip company already aware of these security. They cannot control some people out there developing password brute forcer for free to break into there security. I think its better not to add password in compressed file in winzip, after all passworded zip file is easy to break.

Hi Everyone,

This is the official line from our friends at Winzip. It seems that password isnt used as a basis for the key.
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WinZip® uses the standard Zip 2.0 encryption format, a format that is also supported by most other Zip utilities.

Password protecting files in a Zip file provides a measure of protection against casual users who do not have the password and are trying to determine the contents of the files. However, the Zip 2.0 encryption format is known to be relatively weak, and cannot be expected to provide protection from individuals with access to specialized password recovery tools.

You should not rely on WinZip password protection to provide strong security for your data. If you have important security requirements for your data, you should look into more robust cryptography solutions.
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There used to be a product called Steganography?? that used to add strength to encrypted zip files.

yanksfan, i'd suggest encrypting the data before archiving it with winzip...
you can find many freeware file encryption programs on the net...

http://www.webattack.com/Freeware/se...wencrypt.shtml

this link should be useful (all freeware)...

so=- if your data is sensitive, i'd go with some other form of encryption (ontop of the winzip)...

Well, I was asking, because I burn most of my important files to a CD-R. I do have PGP, but I really don't need THAT kind of security, I mean it's not top secret or anything -- its just my email.

I would use PGP, but, right now I figure my worst case-scenario to be all my hard drives get formatted in my home PC's. So, I would lose my key and that backup would be worthless.

-Mike

And it's not Windows zip encryption or WinZip encryption but PKZIP encryption..

PKware (Phil Katz) invented the stuff somewhere in the 80's (ZIP 2.0 in 1992)

I personaly think the whole ZIP format suckt as it did in the 80's (ZIP1.0) and it sucks even more now with all the good free other compression schemes, like BZIP2 !


some pdf on the ZIP encryption and other encryption possibilities (commercial propaganda ;))..

someoutdated and funny info on the encryption.