Oct262011

How can I recover a password protecting a .zip file?

Amit sinha asks:

I have forgetten my zip file password which is almost 21 characters long and consists of lower case and upper case letters with numbers and special characters. Guessing it is out of the question. Is there any way to recover my files?


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  • Jeff Fabish October 27, 2011

    Bruteforcing too, is out of the question. What application did you use to pack it? You could try searching for a vulnerability in the packing scheme or encryption implementation. You can search for these vulnerabilities at exploit-db and security focus, which if you’re using older compression software the vulnerability is likely still available. 

    • Jeff Fabish October 27, 2011

      “Appnimi ZIP Password Unlocker allows to search for the password of the protected ZIP file using Brute Force algorithm” – Appnimi

      It would take About 65 trillion years to bruteforce even a dictionary phrase, whereby the bruteforcer contained all the keys mentioned in the password. If it was a completely arbituary password as Amit mentioned, there is about 0.00000000001% chance of it being cracked by a traditional dictionary based bruteforce attack.

      • Jay October 27, 2011

        That’s why I added to look for the data, or recover the deleted data using data recovery program instead of trying to remove the password.
        The easiest option(if it works)

  • Shawn October 28, 2011

    Bruteforce using Amazon EC2 Services it will cost you a little bit but it can crack just about anything in an hour

  • Gerry October 28, 2011

    An easy solution to solve it; Firstly you need this :

    1) Install WinRAR latest version, free or paid doesn’t matter.
    2) On your computer, find your zip / rar file that one you lost the password.
    3) Highlight the file, right click on it. Click on ‘Delete’ or press ‘Delete’ button on your keyboard.4) Then click ‘OK’ if it asking for permanently delete.
    5) Problem solved. 

    • Jeff Fabish October 28, 2011

      So where does needing WinRar come in? 

    • Hamad October 28, 2011

      Does that get him his files back?

  • Mikewatson November 2, 2011

    I forgot my password with facebook

    • Jay November 2, 2011

      Recover the password from here,
      https://www.facebook.com/recover.php
      enter your email id that you used for facebook and press search.
      send password reset link to your email inbox.
      and reset the password.

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