Forums Bugs & issues Cannot use AxCrypt to keep my local files secure from other local people Reply To: Cannot use AxCrypt to keep my local files secure from other local people

#4968 Reply

Lucas

Merry Christmas Paddy!

Yes, the integrated password protection of Microsoft Office is by far the easiest and most convenient method of encrypting your files. The first time you encrypt simply go to:

File | Save As | More Options | Tools | General Options | Password to Open

Those options may vary slightly depending on your version. Then, every time you go to open the document (after you’ve closed it), you’ll be prompted to enter your password.

The default encryption for Office 2013 (and Office 2016) is AES-128 in CBC mode with 100,000 iterations. The way it is implemented in these modern versions is extremely secure and because it is built into the software you don’t get any errors.

Even professional password cracking software cannot break the encryption if you use a sufficiently secure password (10 characters, symbols, numbers). It can only guess the password if you use a short, dictionary word:

 

“With latest versions of popular office suites such as Microsoft Office 2013 implementing the strongest security, brute force attacks become painfully slow and ineffective even in GPU-accelerated environments. The limited recovery speed of Microsoft Office 2013 passwords required the use of a smarter approach than brute force or simple dictionary attacks.
With truly random passwords now taking near infinite time to recover, Advanced Office Password Recovery employs a social engineering approach and implements smart attacks targeting human psychology.”

 

I can only imagine the glitch you are suffering with AxCrypt is because there are two copies open.

With password managers some sites restrict pasting but you can also view the password in cleartext and type if necessary. KeePass also offers a feature which simulates keyboard presses, i.e. in tricks the website into thinking somebody is typing (instead of pasting) and therefore allows it to be entered!