Passwords and protection: wordtlengths?

[Rob]

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

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

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.

 

[Rob]

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

 

[Rob]

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