Winzap Encryption Software Product Information

Encryption Strength

Strength is a relative term. The degree to which an encrypted file is resistant to "attack" reveals the strength of encryption. Very strong encryption makes it impractical (if not impossible) for an unauthorized person to restore the original file. If an encrypted file is vulnerable to attack, the encryption is weak. Remember that encryption keeps files private. The stronger the encryption, the more difficult it becomes for an unauthorized person to ever have a chance of looking at the data that is being made private.

There are various "attacks" that can be used against an encrypted file. Some of these attacks are shown below:

brute force attack
dictionary attack
clear plaintext attack
frequency analysis
statistical cryptanalysis / chi-squared test
differential cryptanalysis
linear cryptanalysis
pattern recognition
password detection
black box cryptanalysis

A WINZAP™-encrypted file is resistant to these attacks. WINZAP™ does not merely "flip bits" nor is the user's password ever stored in the output file. In fact, the user's password is not stored on the disk at all. That feature of WINZAP™ makes the encryption stronger than other encryption programs. It also makes the user's password the only thing that will "unlock" the file.

Without discussing the actual algorithm that the WINZAP™ program uses to keep files private, it is a method far superior than the two methods discussed above. A WINZAP™-encrypted file is very resistant to attack. The brute force attack is believed to be the most devastating attack against WINZAP™ because it focuses on the user's password. However, steps have been taken to minimize any vulnerability to the brute force attack. These extra precautions include requiring a minimum password-length of six characters and by prohibiting command line arguments.

The output of WINZAP™, as is the case with all encryption programs, must not be altered in any way or successful decryption will not be possible. This concept is analogous to an executable file. Just as you could not randomly change an executable file and expect it to run, the same holds true with the output of WINZAP™. The WINZAP™-encrypted file is a non-executable binary file (not a text file). You can safely do a hex dump of a WINZAP™ file but you must treat the WINZAP™ file with as much respect as you would an executable file.

Weak encryption programs can be exported outside the U.S. with little or no restrictions. However WINZAP™ uses strong encryption. It is our very clear understanding as indicated to us by the U.S. Department of Commerce, that we can export a strong encryption program outside the U.S. only if we obtain special permission from the United States government. The WINZAP™ program uses encryption methods that far exceed 128-bit encryption. (128-bit encryption is actually weak encryption.)

WINZAP™ requires a password of a minimum of 6 characters, and a maximum of 20 characters. The number of password possibilities increases exponentially as the number of characters increase. With 10 different numerical characters and 26 different alphabetical characters, there are 56,800,235,584 different combinations using just a 6 character password. Even using the minimum 6 character password, WINZAP™ is virtually impervious to brute force attack. Using more than a 6 character password, the vast number of possible password combinations increases exponentially, and WINZAP™ becomes quite invincible to all types of attack.