From: danisch@ira.uka.de (Hadmut Danisch)
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 09:06:08 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: breaking encryption in microsoft word...
Message-ID: <9406011604.AA02418@tartarus.ira.uka.de>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> A client of mine has lost the password to a Microsoft Word v6
> document. I've found stuff on the net to crack Wordperfect, and
> pointers to stuff to crack Lotus 1-2-3, Quatro-Pro, MS Excel and
> Paradox, but nothing on Microsoft Word. Does Word use real
> cryptography, or does someone out there have a way to break it pretty
> quickly?


Some months ago there was an article in a german computer magazine about
the Microsoft Excel chiffre. If I remember well it was a simple thing:
Every byte is rotated by two (?) bits and then a 12-character password
is xored cyclic (vigenere-chiffre). The format of the file should be 
enough to do a known-plaintext-attack. Doesn't have the Microsoft word
document a lot of 0-Bytes within the first hundred bytes?

Hadmut