Forums Community Encryption Security With Version 1.7.3201.0 vs Version 2.x Reply To: Encryption Security With Version 1.7.3201.0 vs Version 2.x

#13311 Reply

Azhaguraja B
Keymaster

Hello Steve,

Yes, AxCrypt-1.7.3201.0 is the last stable version of 1.x. You can also check the same using our legacy website http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/LegacyDownloads.html .

The data encryption primitive is AES-128 or AES-256 in AxCrypt 2, while it’s always AES-128 in AxCrypt 1.

We use SHA-512 for two things – an HMAC, that’s a cryptographically strong checksum that ensures that we can be sure that nothing in the encrypted file has been changed. We also use it for password derivation – this is a process whereby we take a variable length typed password, and produce a fixed length (128 or 256-bit as the need be) value to use for the actual encryption algorithm. It’s essentially just another representation of the typed password, and we never store this anywhere.

Please read up on the full details here: http://www.axcrypt.net/documentation/technical/ .

Also, please check our security page, https://forum.axcrypt.net/information/security/ .

SHA stands for Secure Hashing Algorithm. SHA-1 and SHA-2 are two different versions of that algorithm. They differ in both constructions (how the resulting hash is created from the original data) and in the bit-length of the signature. Primarily, people focus on the bit-length as the important distinction. SHA-1 is a 160-bit hash. SHA-2 is actually a “family” of hashes and comes in a variety of lengths, the most popular being 256-bit.

Please read to know the difference between the SHA 1 and SHA 2, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2#Comparison_of_SHA_functions