Microsoft Word doc encryption

Hi all,
I need to carry a collection of log-on's & passwords on my laptop. I
have so many passwords now, I need to write them down.

How secure is a Word document which has been encrypted using Word's own
encryption? I have tried simple things like changing the document to ".txt"
& opening it in notepad, and it's still a bunch of random characters.
Great, but how secure?

Look forward to your replies.

Regards,
Roy.


www.btinternet.com/~godalming

Roy

Roy wrote:

> Hi all,
> I need to carry a collection of log-on's & passwords on my laptop. I
> have so many passwords now, I need to write them down.
>
> How secure is a Word document which has been encrypted using Word's own
> encryption? I have tried simple things like changing the document to ".txt"
> & opening it in notepad, and it's still a bunch of random characters.
> Great, but how secure?

The standard encryption mechanism for Word97/2K/XP .doc format is
vulnerable to keystream leaking due to improper usage or the RC4 stream
cipher. Thus, if you edit a document, an attacker can extract an easily
separable combination of the previous and the new content.

The stronger, not backward compatible encryption offered since Office XP
and standard in Office 2003 seems to be useful.

Anyway, since .doc basically is a memory dump, you don't really know if not
the key ends up somewhere else, or some data remain unencrypted.

Sebastian Gottschalk

Roy wrote:
> Hi all,
> I need to carry a collection of log-on's & passwords on my laptop. I
> have so many passwords now, I need to write them down.
>
> How secure is a Word document which has been encrypted using Word's own
> encryption? I have tried simple things like changing the document to ".txt"
> & opening it in notepad, and it's still a bunch of random characters.
> Great, but how secure?

Assuming that Sebastian is correct (and I have no reason not to) about the
lack of security, why not create an encrypted container with something like
TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org).

--
Notan

Notan

Why not try something like "Password Safe" for your passwords? I use it and
keep it's database synchronised between my tablet pc and my desktop.

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

Larry

"Roy" <> wrote in message
news...
> Hi all,
> I need to carry a collection of log-on's & passwords on my laptop. I
> have so many passwords now, I need to write them down.
>
> How secure is a Word document which has been encrypted using Word's own
> encryption? I have tried simple things like changing the document to
> ".txt"
> & opening it in notepad, and it's still a bunch of random characters.
> Great, but how secure?
>
> Look forward to your replies.
>
> Regards,
> Roy.
>
>
> www.btinternet.com/~godalming
>
>
>

Lawrence E. Oliver

Thanks everyone for your input. I will take a look at the software
suggested.
Regards,
Roy.

"Roy" <> wrote in message
news...
Hi all,
I need to carry a collection of log-on's & passwords on my laptop. I
have so many passwords now, I need to write them down.

How secure is a Word document which has been encrypted using Word's own
encryption? I have tried simple things like changing the document to ".txt"
& opening it in notepad, and it's still a bunch of random characters.
Great, but how secure?

Look forward to your replies.

Regards,
Roy.


www.btinternet.com/~godalming

Roy

Notan <notan@ddressthatcanbespammed> (07-02-14 05:43:34):

> > How secure is a Word document which has been encrypted using Word's
> > own encryption? I have tried simple things like changing the
> > document to ".txt" & opening it in notepad, and it's still a bunch
> > of random characters. Great, but how secure?
>
> Assuming that Sebastian is correct (and I have no reason not to) about
> the lack of security, why not create an encrypted container with
> something like TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org).

Sebastian is correct. But using TrueCrypt would probably be overkill
for a single passwords file. On the other hand, storing all useful data
onto an encrypted partition would make sense again, especially for a
laptop, so do that.

If you still want to encrypt single files, use GnuPG or something
similar. Do not rely on commercial software. They claim to be secure,
but in many cases, they're trivial to break.


Regards,
E.S.

Ertugrul Soeylemez

I use password agent. http://www.moonsoftware.com/main.asp It uses
AES/Rijndael encryption (256-bit key) to encrypt your data and passwords.
"Password Agent Lite is completely free, and allows you to store up to 25
entries per file. It has no other limitations! If you need to store more
entries, you can purchase the Unlimited version for only $24.95. The
Unlimited version can store virtually an unlimited number of entries. If you
only need to store less than 25 entries in your password database, you can
use Password Agent Lite for free forever." Not bad for free.

"Lawrence E. Oliver" <> wrote in message
news:WoFAh.9993$...
> Why not try something like "Password Safe" for your passwords? I use it
> and keep it's database synchronised between my tablet pc and my desktop.
>
> http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/
>
> Larry
>
> "Roy" <> wrote in message
> news...
>> Hi all,
>> I need to carry a collection of log-on's & passwords on my laptop. I
>> have so many passwords now, I need to write them down.
>>
>> How secure is a Word document which has been encrypted using Word's own
>> encryption? I have tried simple things like changing the document to
>> ".txt"
>> & opening it in notepad, and it's still a bunch of random characters.
>> Great, but how secure?
>>
>> Look forward to your replies.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Roy.
>>
>>
>> www.btinternet.com/~godalming
>>
>>
>>
>
>

Anthony T