78
votes
Accepted
How to decrypt .lock files from ransomeware on Windows
I don't think you will see those files again, unless you have a back up.
You can view the transaction history of the Bitcoin address you were asked to pay to here. As you can see, there are 303 ...
- 64.2k
64
votes
Accepted
Is there any hope of getting my pictures back after an iPhone factory reset some day in the future?
Modern encryption is strong enough that there is no way to retrieve the lost data without the key. Although it's possible that it could be doable in the future in theory, consider that even the cipher ...
- 63.7k
63
votes
Accepted
Is there such a thing as a "Black Box" that decrypts Internet traffic?
Yes. It's called a Man-in-the-Middle attack. You terminate the SSL session at a mid-point, thereby having the encryption key, then create a new session to the target server, so you have that ...
- 27.2k
57
votes
Accepted
Encrypting text file with AES 256 instead of password manager
Considering those compromises you mention, do you think that encrypting files yourself will be easy? How do you know you won't get into those same pitfalls that resulted in compromises of password ...
- 10k
53
votes
Accepted
Why does an encrypted message sometimes end in "=="
The = signs relate to the length of the string being encoded in Base64. Essentially, in probably the most common form of Base64, = is used as a padding character to ensure that the last block can be ...
- 27.2k
51
votes
Accepted
Why haven't (most of) the Zodiac Killer's letters been decrypted?
The Zodiac killer ciphers are an interesting case. As there were four ciphers sent to the local papers, I will address each in turn. They do share some common traits however.
They are each their own ...
- 501
47
votes
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Is it possible to recover a lost passphrase for a private key file?
The whole point of having a passphrase is to lock out anyone who does not know it. Allowing it to be recovered would defy the principle and allow hackers who get access to your certificate to recover ...
- 13k
35
votes
How To Recover End-To-End Encrypted Data After Losing Private Key?
You have found another example of the balance security vs usability. If you want true E2E encryption, end users are responsible for their keys and for possible backups of their messages. Full stop.
If ...
- 25.6k
34
votes
Accepted
What will I get if I "decrypt" a plaintext?
"Encryption" is a large term. In all generality, encryption takes an input message in some space of possible input messages; usually arbitrary "sequences of bits" with various restrictions on length, ...
- 168k
34
votes
Is there such a thing as a "Black Box" that decrypts Internet traffic?
No, there's no way such a thing could possibly exist, for any significant amount of time.
There's two big hints at this in the article itself:
many technical experts are raising equally serious ...
- 5,298
31
votes
Is there any hope of getting my pictures back after an iPhone factory reset some day in the future?
Every time I updated my iPhone with iTunes, iTunes automatically made a backup of the iPhone. These backups can be checked in:
iTunes >> Edit Menu >> Preference >> Devices >> ...
- 411
26
votes
Why haven't (most of) the Zodiac Killer's letters been decrypted?
You're assuming that they're actually encrypted. A lot of crazy people have written things that nobody understands. Just because the author thinks they're in code doesn't necessarily mean that the ...
- 82k
21
votes
How to decrypt .lock files from ransomeware on Windows
First line of defense: BACKUPS. Restore the files from there. When available, this has a 100% chance of success.
Otherwise: hope that the ransomware did not disable/work around the Windows Shadow ...
- 22.5k
19
votes
How To Recover End-To-End Encrypted Data After Losing Private Key?
If user changes the device, reinstalls the app, private key which stored on client will be lost. I know i can create new key pairs for future messages but how can i restore the old ones?
Why do you ...
- 12.5k
17
votes
Is it possible to recover a lost passphrase for a private key file?
From your description, it sounds like the server is currently using the key, which means the server "knows" the pass phrase. If this is correct and you have appropriate access to the server, you ...
- 2,581
17
votes
Accepted
Has anybody successfully decrypted their files after paying the WannaCrypt ransom?
Yes, some have apparently gotten their files decrypted after paying the ransom.
We have confirmation that some of the 200+ #WannaCry victims who have paid the ransom have gotten their files back. ...
- 43.7k
16
votes
How to decrypt .lock files from ransomeware on Windows
Europol has a web page with a contact form that you can use to check if a solution is available to your friend's problem.
https://www.nomoreransom.org/
- 304
15
votes
How to deliver an encrypted message to multiple recipients without revealing keys
I think you've gotten public key cryptography all out of whack, here.
You don't give out a private key. Period. They're called "private" for a reason.
You don't send an encrypted message along the ...
- 27k
14
votes
Accepted
CryptoWall 3 - how to prevent and how to decrypt?
First: there's no known way to decrypt files attacked by CryptoWall. Unless you pay to get the key, they are lost forever. If you don't have offline backups, your files are lost.
One way to prevent ...
- 50.3k
14
votes
Why can't SHA256 be decrypted?
First, there is a difference between hashing and encryption. SHA256 is a hashing function, not an encryption function.
Secondly, since SHA256 is not an encryption function, it cannot be decrypted. ...
- 1,613
14
votes
Accepted
If a WAF is compromised, can the adversary view all the traffic in clear text provided WAF uses SSL cert to decrypt it?
Yes, the configuration is as follows:
[client web browser] <--TLS--> [WAF] <--TLS--> [origin web server]
So, the WAF essentially has a 'man in the middle' (MITM) position between the ...
- 19.6k
13
votes
Accepted
How trustable are third party root certificates?
It's safe as long as you understand the implications.
Fiddler acts as a proxy / man in the middle to intercept and decrypt traffic between you and the target.
For SSL sites, it does this by ...
- 3,923
13
votes
Accepted
Extracting openssl pre-master secret from apache2
Apache om Debian 9 (Stretch) uses OpenSSL 1.0.2 (see apache2-bin dependency on libssl1.0), so you can use the approaches documented in that linked post. You can modify the startup script to export ...
- 5,898
12
votes
Is there such a thing as a "Black Box" that decrypts Internet traffic?
The black box is theoretically possible, but is practically impossible. In order for it to work the CAs would have to cooperate and be willing to provide the Black Box with legitimate certificates for ...
- 9,122
12
votes
Encrypting text file with AES 256 instead of password manager
You'd lose the ability to generate random passwords at the click of a button, which might mean you tend towards weaker passwords from the lack of convenience - one of the benefits of password manager ...
- 27.2k
11
votes
CryptoWall 3 - how to prevent and how to decrypt?
Is there a way to decrypt the files?
SensorsTechForum suggests to try Kaspersky’s RectorDecryptor.exe and RakhniDecryptor.exe.
However, I would not hold out much hope.
As CryptoWall is very similar ...
- 33.2k
11
votes
Why can't the FBI copy the contents of an iPhone they are trying to crack?
When trying to access the content of a hard-drive, you have to use the interface provided by said hard-drive. It usually comes with a firmware.
Currently, it is stated that this firmware will not ...
- 13k
11
votes
Is it possible to recover a lost passphrase for a private key file?
Under some circumstances it may be possible to recover the private key with a new password. It would require the issuing CA to have created the certificate with support for private key recovery.
This ...
- 1,197
10
votes
How trustable are third party root certificates?
The way that I understand that Fiddler (And similar proxyies such as Burp or OWASP ZAP) work is that each installation generates a unique root certificate which it then uses to generate certificates ...
- 60.7k
10
votes
Are these claims about modern CPUs and AES decryption true?
AES decryption with the key can definitly happen at GB/s on modern Intel CPUs. Brute-forcing the
entire AES keyspace (e.g. 2^128 possibilities) is considered impossible today by a very large margin (...
- 315
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible