Passwords and protection: wordtlengths?  
Author Message
CurtD





PostPosted: Tue Nov 18 08:09:15 CST 2003 Top

Excel Programming >> Passwords and protection: wordtlengths?

Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,

To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my applications.
Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only a
word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.

In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like a
password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
protection more as a safeguard.

So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
total- about passwords:

What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following matrix?

97 2000 XP
Workbook

Workbook structure

Worksheet password

VBA Project


Regards,
Rob

Excel8  
 
 
J





PostPosted: Tue Nov 18 08:09:15 CST 2003 Top

Excel Programming >> Passwords and protection: wordtlengths? If you "think of protection more as a safeguard", then you need a
password length of zero (just protect the worksheet/workbook and
don't enter a password). That will keep users from inadvertently
changing things.

For worksheet/workbook passwords, all password lengths are hashed to
a fixed-length, so running a macro to remove protection is faster
than trying even all one-character passwords. See

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html

Various VBA project password crackers appear to work instantantly,
indicating that length is not relevant. In fact, a hex editor can
usually recover the bulk of your code, even if you have the project
protected, since the project isn't encrypted.




> Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,
>
> To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my applications.
> Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
> effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
> As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
> Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only a
> word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.
>
> In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like a
> password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
> I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
> protection more as a safeguard.
>
> So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
> total- about passwords:
>
> What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following matrix?
>
> 97 2000 XP
> Workbook
>
> Workbook structure
>
> Worksheet password
>
> VBA Project
>
>
> Regards,
> Rob
>
>
 
 
Rob





PostPosted: Tue Nov 18 12:38:16 CST 2003 Top

Excel Programming >> Passwords and protection: wordtlengths? Hello J.E,

About my remark on the safeguard: I already knew that cracking is easy. It's
just that you can make it a bit more difficult for the very average user.
The link to your page is very helpful. I read that hacking the VBA pasword
(which is the most important for me, for all procedures are in there) is
more difficult. so if I want to make it -even for specialised programs- as
difficult and timeconsuming as possible, what will my ultimate passwodlength
for the VBA-editor be?

Regards,
Rob





> If you "think of protection more as a safeguard", then you need a
> password length of zero (just protect the worksheet/workbook and
> don't enter a password). That will keep users from inadvertently
> changing things.
>
> For worksheet/workbook passwords, all password lengths are hashed to
> a fixed-length, so running a macro to remove protection is faster
> than trying even all one-character passwords. See
>
> http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html
>
> Various VBA project password crackers appear to work instantantly,
> indicating that length is not relevant. In fact, a hex editor can
> usually recover the bulk of your code, even if you have the project
> protected, since the project isn't encrypted.
>


>
> > Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,
> >
> > To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my
applications.
> > Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
> > effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
> > As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
> > Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only
a
> > word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.
> >
> > In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like
a
> > password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
> > I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
> > protection more as a safeguard.
> >
> > So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
> > total- about passwords:
> >
> > What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following
matrix?
> >
> > 97 2000 XP
> > Workbook
> >
> > Workbook structure
> >
> > Worksheet password
> >
> > VBA Project
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Rob
> >
> >


 
 
Rob





PostPosted: Wed Nov 19 03:14:11 CST 2003 Top

Excel Programming >> Passwords and protection: wordtlengths? Hello J.E,

About my remark on the safeguard: I already knew that cracking is easy. It's
just that you can make it a bit more difficult for the very average user.
The link to your page is very helpful. I read that hacking the VBA pasword
(which is the most important for me, for all procedures are in there) is
more difficult. so if I want to make it -even for specialised programs- as
difficult and timeconsuming as possible, what will my ultimate passwodlength
for the VBA-editor be?

Regards,
Rob




> If you "think of protection more as a safeguard", then you need a
> password length of zero (just protect the worksheet/workbook and
> don't enter a password). That will keep users from inadvertently
> changing things.
>
> For worksheet/workbook passwords, all password lengths are hashed to
> a fixed-length, so running a macro to remove protection is faster
> than trying even all one-character passwords. See
>
> http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html
>
> Various VBA project password crackers appear to work instantantly,
> indicating that length is not relevant. In fact, a hex editor can
> usually recover the bulk of your code, even if you have the project
> protected, since the project isn't encrypted.
>


>
> > Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,
> >
> > To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my
applications.
> > Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
> > effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
> > As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
> > Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only
a
> > word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.
> >
> > In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like
a
> > password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
> > I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
> > protection more as a safeguard.
> >
> > So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
> > total- about passwords:
> >
> > What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following
matrix?
> >
> > 97 2000 XP
> > Workbook
> >
> > Workbook structure
> >
> > Worksheet password
> >
> > VBA Project
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Rob
> >
> >