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Find password protected files

 

This article reviews the following issues. First of all, to find out whether the file encryption is really required, one should learn in detail what is file protection against illegal access, how it can be reached, and when it may be used. The rest of article considers problems of search of encrypted or password protected files, note that more complicated situations are also taken into consideration, when existence of the encrypted file is still a question, or when a password has been lost.

When we face password protection problems

All groups of consumers, from home PC users to professionals, companies' employees and executives, need to keep some important information being confidential and inaccessible for outsiders. Furthermore, the larger the company and the higher position its representative has the heavier loss may be caused by possible leak of information. 

Quite often the company safety is directly related to a proper data protection against unauthorized access. Thus it seems reasonable to prevent files and archives with the most important data from unwanted access in some way, i.e. to encrypt them. Today the solving of this problem is not a matter of concern, so this article doesn't consider issues referred to strength of commonly used encryption algorithms. 

But as soon as the file has been encrypted another problem rears its ugly head – strange though it may seem, but it is very easy to be lost. Since in pursuit of confidentiality the users aim to invent cumbersome passwords, experiment with file names, it's quite usual that the password or file name has been forgotten. The author by no means appeals to use primitive passwords, quite the contrary, but the user should know how to find a necessary file in that case. Here is one more example when it's necessary to find encrypted files, too, but this time the situation doesn't seem so unsophisticated. 

Assume that one of the company employees gathers information for a competitor company, and it makes sense for him to keep the collected data in an encrypted file. Therefore, the timely revelation of the file provides security of the company, hence preventing from a potential damage. 

Built-in password protection security mechanisms

Assume that we need to encrypt some private information (e.g. correspondence, budget planning, business data, creative ideas, etc.) If possible loss because of breaching confidentiality has mainly moral aspects it will be quite enough to use built-in security mechanisms that both most common archives (e.g. zip) and text editors (e.g. MS Word, Adobe Acrobat) have. In most cases it's quite enough to select a required option, for example, To encrypt a file, etc. 

While this way is the most low-expensive it doesn't provide high reliability, because it is based on use of simple encryption algorithms, the keys of small size. To provide better security users are recommended to use lengthy passwords (over 6 symbols), and combine numbers, lowercase and capital letters. 

In other cases, when importance of keeping data confidential covers additional costs it may be recommended to use special encryption software. 

Special password security tools

The fact that a computer operates off-line, first of all including there's no connection with Internet, limits greatly a range of possible information security threats. But it's much interesting to examine a situation, when a computer operates within a local network, perhaps, it even functions as a multiuser machine. In this case it's better to do everything required for providing security, to use the strongest cryptography algorithms, more lengthy key, and it might be as well to encrypt using several keys, while the keys must be also reliably encrypted. In the modern encryption algorithms, even with having both encrypted text and clear text it's quite difficult to determine a key. 

The easiest and, at the same time, quite ingenious way for providing data security is a renaming of a file. Assume that a violator is aware about existence of some zip archiver with a data he is interested in. Unlikely he will search it among files with extension, say, .dat. So, renaming the file creates additional difficulties for the violator.

Stenography is one more special method of data protection with the highest reliability. In this case after cryptographic transformation the data is hidden within other files, usually audio or graphics ones. Some piece of the data of these files is replaced by target protected data, when this replacement is almost invisible. The above case refers to the easiest method of providing stenographic protection. More complicated methods require using of special software. 
Moreover, for protection of the private information which is stored on the networked computer, it's highly recommended using of so called PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) disks. One of the most important advantages of a PGPdisk application is that it allows to avoid encryption of a large number of files with confidential information. All confidential files and even applications may be removed to a such PGP disk, and then you don't need to decrypt one of the removed files every time when opening it.

The PGP disk has an external form of a file with extension pgd, but in a fact it operates as a logical drive, providing functions of file storage and access. It may be placed to a floppy disk or to a separate hard disk. After its removing the disk becomes unavailable for outsiders, and to open it you need to input a secret sentence which only you know. But even the unlocked disk is protected against an unauthorized access. Even if a computer hangs while using the disk its contents will be encrypted. 

When the search for password protected is needed

While usually seeking to keep his data confidential, a user tries to give a file an unremarkable name, or to hide the file in a complex hierarchy of subdirectories. 

Taking into account a great deal of various files stored on drives of each modern computer, no wonder that the user often forgets both name of the file and its location, that results in additional difficulties in searching the file. Sometimes the user appears to forget the access password. 

So for companies with high requirements to confidentiality of information it seems reasonable to audit all files kept within the company information system to reveal encrypted ones. Perhaps, unfair employees gather confidential data in these files. On the other hand, the protected files may be created by quite fair employees who keep in these files their constructive plans and ideas. But in this case they easily could prove their innocence

Searching for encrypted files

Find Protected designed to search for password protected files on local disks and across a network.Find Protected was designed to help finding password protected files on local hard disk and across a network.

Use it to find lost sensitive files with password protection and force password security policy across your company.

Find Protected home page 

The developers of such software face a complex task - to recover a password to the encrypted file that was created providing the highest security ever possible. But, turning back to security, keep in mind there are no security tools providing a total reliability. What one can hide the other one can find. Hence it's quite possible to find out the required password (in the pursuit of legal purposes, of course), yet it is only a matter how much time the user has. 

There are some tips for choosing a proper password recover software program. As a rule, the programs are based on

Here we consider methods of searching of ordinary encrypted files. This section refers only to an encrypted, but not hidden file; methods of searching of renamed and nested files are given below. 

To start with, let's examine the easiest, cheapest, but yet the most cumbersome way: a user is manually looking for an encrypted file by a linear search through all files of the certain application stored on the hard disk. Assume that a very important (and hence encrypted to make it unavailable for outsiders) MS Word document has been lost. 

Furthermore, the user doesn't remember neither name of the file nor a drive that stores it, and there are other encrypted files on the hard disk. At first the user seeks to get a full list of files with extension .doc stored on his computer using any available search tool, say, the option Find of MS Windows. Then he has to open one by one all these files till he finds one that requests password when opening. But it is just any of the encrypted files, not necessarily the required one. Obviously, this operation consumes a lot of time. The same procedure is needed to find, say, an encrypted zip archive, pdf document, or PGP disk, note that the latter is always protected with a password. 

The following method makes the search much easier due to use of a computer-aided tool - special software. This software is based on a similar to the above procedure algorithm of searching of encrypted files. If the file format allows encryption there is a special flag within the file which indicates that the file has been encrypted. The flag value, size and position differ for different file formats. If the flag is set the file is encrypted. So, by checking the values of this flag the software program indicates the files with the flag set. As a result the user gets not a full list of files with the certain extension but only encrypted ones, that allows to save a lot of time.

Moreover, the search becomes much easier if there is some additional data, for example, the user can remember approximate time of his last addressing to the file or can estimate its size. The file contains this data as well. So, as a rule, developers of good software seek to include additional options (search of files by creation date, last modified date, or last accessed date). The applications may operate within the search area limited by files in specified size range, or their location. 

If the password protected file is hidden

As it is mentioned above in the first section of the article, a file may be hidden by means of stenographic techniques, in the simplest case, by renaming a file, i.e. changing its extension. 

The rename operation is not recorded anywhere in the file. Hence obviously, that the above searching method is not helpful in this situation. Nevertheless, though in fact the file extension has been changed and now it relates to another application the original format remains the same. This format, its structure, and data organization within the file differ for different applications. Without going into details when describing this format, through examining of the file contests it is possible to find out which application this file related to. This is the algorithm the special software for searching of renamed files is based on. 

The more complex task is to find out the file that has been hidden by means of special stenography applications. Available software can reveal only few schemes and methods. The latest stenographic methods can't be detected at all. In fact, one who tries to find nested files is always a step behind one who hides them.

On the other hand, there are some ways that allow to suspect foreign nestings in the files on the basis of indirect signs. First of all, it's very important to competently audit an information system: it looks suspicious if a user loads the same picture over and over again, and, more, uses special stenography tools. In some companies the employees who deal with confidential information are forbidden to access MPEG, MPEG2, MPEG3, MPEG4 files and have a limited size of mailbox and sites allowed for downloading. 

You should be also on your guard if the traffic analysis indicates that a certain image is loaded too often while text is not loaded at all. When the suspicious file is founded an expert can reveal a nested file by modification of the image (ripple, color shifting, shade of black and white, etc.) But all that is in theory. In practice, this analysis is very difficult to carry out. Then it's necessary to indicate a format of the nested file, but the further success mainly depends on strength of the encryption algorithm used.

Search password protected. Summary

  1. Search of encrypted files is aimed, first of all, not to cracking, but just the opposite – to providing information security of a user. 

  2. The user faces a problem of searching of encrypted files when he has forgotten a file name, location and password, or when the file was hidden in some way (renamed or nested).

  3. There are two ways to search an encrypted file: manual search through all files seemed suitable one by one, or using special software. The second approach is much faster. Computer-aided search is based on examination of the file contests whether there is special flag (attribute) of an encrypted file.

  4. In the case the file was renamed, for its search it's necessary to analyze a file structure which differs for applications with different formats. 

  5. In the case the file was hidden in another file, it’s reasonable to use special software which allows to detect stenography, or analyses some indirect signs of nesting presence in the file (it's very complicated). 

  6. If the password is forgotten or lost it may be recovered only using special software which is developed for different applications, has optimized search time and can deal with different information security levels, if necessary.

If the password is lost

Besides that important confidential information could be lost due to forgetting a file name or location, i.e. when the file is lost among others stored on the computer, the troubles can also be related to data decryption. This is the case when the user forgets the password, or it has been lost. The file can't be decrypted without the password. But then the following procedure might be helpful. If the user can remember the password at least approximately, it's worth an attempt to try it. Otherwise, there are two ways to deal with the problem: or just let it be, but unlikely the user accepts this approach, or, better, to take advantage of computer-aided tools for password recovery. 

The developers of such software face a complex task - to recover a password to the encrypted file that was created providing the highest security ever possible. But, turning back to security, keep in mind there are no security tools providing a total reliability. What one can hide the other one can find. Hence it's quite possible to find out the required password (in the pursuit of legal purposes, of course), yet it is only a matter how much time the user has. 

There are some tips for choosing a proper password recover software program. As a rule, the programs are based on methods of vocabulary and blind search plus some additional Know-Hows. So, first of all the user should take into consideration how much time is spent for password search (the latest programs can try billions of combinations per minute). But even so fast search, however, may take a lot of time. In addition, some programs provide password recovery using a small fragment of original text. The user certainly can recall at least few sentences contained in the required file. In most cases the password can be recovered due to this information. Quite often applications have several security levels, i.e. several password levels. For example, There are following types of passwords in MS Office: open document password, changes password, document password. So it is preferable that the password recovery software program deals with all password security levels. 

Search for password protected. Conclusion.

The article considered crucial issues of providing confidentiality of some important information and basic troubleshooting related to confidential files that every user can experience. Nowadays the main tool for providing security of confidential data (e.g. e-mail, electronic documentation, data bases, etc.) is file encryption. A file may be encrypted by means of built-in utilities of applications or using special software. The file can be also hidden by renaming. Another way is to hide the file by nesting it in another file of a quite large size (usually audio or graphics one). The selection of a security tool is based on the required level of information security: the higher data confidentiality is, the more advanced software should be used.

When dealing with encrypted files the users may face a lot of troubles and difficulties. First of all, these problems arise if a user forgets file identification data, i.e. file name, location and password, in other words, the important information is lost together with the file (i.e. its name and location), and then it's necessary to search the lost file, or the file is unreadable without forgotten or lost password, and then to decrypt the data there is need to recover the password.

Furthermore, the issues related to search of files hidden by means of stenography were also taken into consideration. The easiest way to hide a file is to rename it (i.e. to change its extension). In this case to find the file (i.e. to find out an application which this file is really related to) it's necessary to analyze file structure. The more complex task is to find out the file that has been hidden by means of special stenography software, i.e. nested in another file. Then there is need to use special software programs for detecting stenography (the most effective approach). You can also try to find out the nested data without special software, but it's very hard to realize, at least, you need an original file (audio or graphics one) without changes to compare with.

 

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