Decrypting an encrypted floppy disk? (Securstar Drivecrypt Plus Pack)

[the dude]

A friend of mine gave me an encrypted floppy disk that contains the key file for his hdds which have been encrypted with Securstar Drivecrypt Plus Pack (very smart move to encrypt the key file as well, hehe). After he formated the partition with Drivecrypt on it he consequentially can't access his files now, another smart move.
Since i don't know much about encryption i thought i ask you guys, maybe there's someone here who does.

Is there any way to decrypt the floppy disk so he can access his files again? As far as i know Drivecrypt works with a 256Bit encryption.

Thanks in advance, and no, I'm not talking about myself. ;)

[Calpis]

No hope really. He should just start over and this time not encrypt anything...

[the dude]

What about formating the hdds and then trying to recover some files with an application like "recover my files", would that get any useful result?

[madhatter256]

Can you make a backup of that floppy just incase? Just clone it over to another one?

[the dude]

not necessary, he's got 3 copies of it, so if one gets fucked we still got another two. so you mean it's worth trying it?

[madhatter256]

Yeh. Its worth trying it, do a quick format, not a full one.

[the dude]

ok, gonna try it tommorrow, ain't got time for it now. thank you for your help so far. :)

[Calpis]

I don't know about this program you're talking about but 256 bit encryption isn't a joke. It really depends on what exactly is encrypted. There's no reason to not cut your losses unless the drives are actually worth more than what it'll cost to *attempt* recovery. I'm sure if the software is remotely reputable, nobody here will even remotely be able to help you. Making a disk image is something necessary for examination, but it honestly isn't a mark of progress or anything, your friend has a long way and a lot of money ahead of him.

File recovery software works by finding old, lost and damaged file tables, then attempting to make a new table by traversing each entry/file's linked list (it goes sector to sector finding each part of the file). Once the table is built, you can access the files, but they aren't necessarily good files if sectors have been relinked or overwritten or the file system is incomplete or *encrypted*.

[opethfan]

If it is 256 bit encryption, it's gone. It'd take several trillion years to brute force it.

[the dude]

OK, "Recover My Files" gave me a file called "Recovered_Partition_1.PARTITION". Is that any useful? Size is 1kb so I guess not...

[hl718]

Unless you have the decryption key, you're not getting access to the files.

Sorry.

-hl718

[the dude]

Ok, one last question he asked me last night: will computers be powerful enough in 5 - 10 years to hack this decryption? or in different words, is it worth reserving the disks?

[Calpis]

I don't think so.

[The-Old-Arcade]

Interesting article here:

http://www.tinhat.com/surveillance/code_breaking.html

[The-Old-Arcade]

And here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=204

[WolverineDK]

Interesting article here:

http://www.tinhat.com/surveillance/code_breaking.html

It is a great read, but he is a bit wrong when it comes to getting Blowfish system encryption on the net. I could get it via source forge. But it is a good read.

[the dude]

Interesting. So maybe it is worth reserving the drives.

[retro]

Drivecrypt is a LOT stronger than 256 bit encryption, unless it is a very old version. It also simply requires his password, and will work on any system, any OS too. So all he has to do is install it on a computer, put in his password, and he's away.

Sounds a bit suspicious that he's looking for ways around it to me.

[the dude]

Unfortunately it's not that easy. When you first encrypt your drives with DriveCrypt he makes a so called key file, in which the information about the encryption is saved. Without that file you don't get access to the encrypted files, even not if you know your passwords (what he does).

[retro]

Yes, but if the keyfile is encrypted, surely he can unencrypt them? I mean, surely he ONLY used the password on the disk? It would be madness to encrypt a hard drive, then encrypt the floppy, which was encrypted with yet another key file.....

Contact Securstar, but I don't think you'll get anywhere.

[the dude]

Since I talked to the person that gave me disks two years ago, I'm bumping this thread. Is there any news to this topic? Are there any possibilities to encrypt those floppies today?