Hacking For Beginners – Manthan Desai

40-bit

56-bit

2^40

2^56

2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2...

2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2....

2 multiplied by 2128 times over.

= 1 trillion (1,097,728,000,000)

2010

= 72 thousand quadrillion (71,892,000,000,000,000)

= 339,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000(give or take a couple trillion...)

128-bit 2^128

Doing the math, you can see that using the same method that was used to break 40-bit encryption in a week, it wouldtake about 72 million weeks (about 1.4 million years) to even break '56-bit medium' encryption and significantly longerthan the age of the universe to crack a 128-bit key. Of course the argument is that computers will keep getting faster,about doubling in power every 18 months. That is true, but even when computers are a million times faster than they arenow (about 20 years from now if they double in speed every year), it would then still take about 6 thousand, trillion years,which is about a million times longer than the Earth has been around. Plus, simply upgrading to encryption wouldtake twice as long, and 130-bit would take twice as long again. As you can see, it's far easier for the encryption to keepwell ahead of the technology in this case. Simply put, 128-bit encryption is totally secure.

How do I know if encryption is enabled or not?

Your Browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) will tell you.

In Netscape versions 3.X and earlier you can tell what kind of encryption for a particular document by looking at the "document" information" screen accessible from the file menu. The in the lower left-hand corner of the Netscape window also indicates this information. A solid key with three means 128-bit encryption, a solid key with two teeth means 40-bit encryption, and a broken key means no Even if your browser supports 128-bit encryption, it may use 40-bit encryption when talking to other servers outside the U.S. and Canada. In Netscape versions 4.X and higher, click on the "Security" button determine whether the current page is encrypted, and, if so, what level of encryption is in use.

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, a solid padlock will appear on the bottom right of the screen when encryption is in use. Todetermine whether 40-bit or 128-bit encryption is in effect, open the document information page using File->Properties .This will indicate whether "weak" or "strong" encryption is in use.

What about warnings or errors about Secure Certificate?

Your personal Security settings will determine what warnings you see.

Depending on how your security settings are setup in your Browser, you may also see information about our Certificatewhen you enter the secure directories. This information will usually include the Dates that the Certificate is valid for, thesite name that the Certificate has been issued to, and the Certificate Authority (or 'CA') that issued the Certificate. Youcan also usually view the Certificate to see information about the various parties, including Inet2000 and our CA.

The most common warning is that you have not previously chosen to Trust the authority. This is a normal warning if youhaven't already purchased anything online from a Merchant who's certificate was issued by a Certificate Authority thatyou haven't told your browser to trust from now on. Of course, you may well have no errors, warnings or informationscreens at all - again, largely depending on the way you've got your security settings set in your Browser.

In any case, the encryption level and the security is the same whether you've got your settings low (don't warn me aboutanything) or very high (warn and inform me about everything). Either way, your data is still encrypted and still secure.

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