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Cyber Security

Are the files encrypted with the 7ZIP password cracker vulnerable?

Asked by Amit Raj Mar 29, 2022 808 views 1 answer
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A client says they can't accept password-protected PDFs to put in their payroll system, so I have to send them without security. I don't want to send unsecured PDFs via email because email is inherently insecure. I figured a good alternative was, instead of password-protecting each PDF, I could encrypt the containing folder with 7ZIP, which I got from https://www.7-zip.org/  At first I was optimistic about this option, but a quick Google search led me to articles such as this one where apparently there are easy to find tools, such as 7z Cracker:

"7z Cracker is an open source cracking tool which can extract any password protected 7zip file". I also found this answer in this forum that talks about John The Ripper: "John The Ripper can crack these AES-256 encrypted archives." Does this mean that 7ZIP encryption is basically useless? Are these password crackers effective at circumventing this security measure? Secondly, are password-protected PDFs also this easy to break into?

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