| Windows 7: Is EFS secure? |
01 Nov 2009
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#1 | | |
Is EFS secure? Since the encryption certificate is stored on the computer, all you have to do is connect the hard drive to another computer to get access to the certificate and decrypt all of the files. Not true? | My System Specs |
| OS Windows 7 Professional CPU Intel Q9400 @ 2.66GHz Memory 8.00 GB |
01 Nov 2009
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#2 | | Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1 Croatia |
| My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Asus N73SV OS Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1 CPU Core i7-2630QM Motherboard Intel HM 65 Memory 6 GB DDR3 Graphics Card Nvidia GT 540M / Intel HD 3000 - Optimus switching Sound Card HD Audio (Intel Azalia/Realtek) ALC269 Monitor(s) Displays LED flat panel Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080 Hard Drives 2x Seagate Momentus 640 GB - 1,28 TB in total Internet Speed 4 MB/256 kbps Other Info External HDs
WD Elements 1,5 TB
WD MyBook 500 GB |
01 Nov 2009
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#3 | | |
Why not? Any administrator can delete a normal user's password and gain entry. | My System Specs | | OS Windows 7 Professional CPU Intel Q9400 @ 2.66GHz Memory 8.00 GB |
01 Nov 2009
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#4 | | |

Quote: Originally Posted by Cluent Why not? Any administrator can delete a normal user's password and gain entry. The encryption is based on the user's password, so if you reset a user's password he will not be able to decrypt his or her data. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Too many to list. OS XP, Seven, 2008R2 CPU AMD, Intel, VIA Motherboard Various Memory Corsair, Kingston, etc. Graphics Card ATI, NVIDIA Monitor(s) Displays Samsung Keyboard qwerty Hard Drives Maxtor, Western Digital Internet Speed 22 Mb/s @ home, 1 Gb/s @ server Other Info All of my systems still run fastest on XP 32-bit for the most part. Win7 is fun to play with, but I still prefer XP for raw speed, security, and functionality. |
01 Nov 2009
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#5 | | |
There is no need to reset the password. If you attach the hard drive to another computer you can simply navigate to the encryption certificate. I haven't tried this.
Also, if you export the certificate you don't need the password. Are you sure the certificate is tied to the password? | My System Specs | | OS Windows 7 Professional CPU Intel Q9400 @ 2.66GHz Memory 8.00 GB |
01 Nov 2009
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#6 | | |

Quote: Originally Posted by Cluent There is no need to reset the password. Then why did you mention it? 
Quote: Originally Posted by Cluent Are you sure the certificate is tied to the password? Positive. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Too many to list. OS XP, Seven, 2008R2 CPU AMD, Intel, VIA Motherboard Various Memory Corsair, Kingston, etc. Graphics Card ATI, NVIDIA Monitor(s) Displays Samsung Keyboard qwerty Hard Drives Maxtor, Western Digital Internet Speed 22 Mb/s @ home, 1 Gb/s @ server Other Info All of my systems still run fastest on XP 32-bit for the most part. Win7 is fun to play with, but I still prefer XP for raw speed, security, and functionality. |
01 Nov 2009
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#7 | | Windows Vista Business / Windows 7 Ultimate |
Its secure, but obviously not as good as using an Enterprise Certficate Authority. | My System Specs | | OS Windows Vista Business / Windows 7 Ultimate |
01 Nov 2009
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#8 | | |
True. People at NSA will have no trouble cracking EFS. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Too many to list. OS XP, Seven, 2008R2 CPU AMD, Intel, VIA Motherboard Various Memory Corsair, Kingston, etc. Graphics Card ATI, NVIDIA Monitor(s) Displays Samsung Keyboard qwerty Hard Drives Maxtor, Western Digital Internet Speed 22 Mb/s @ home, 1 Gb/s @ server Other Info All of my systems still run fastest on XP 32-bit for the most part. Win7 is fun to play with, but I still prefer XP for raw speed, security, and functionality. |
01 Nov 2009
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#9 | | |

Quote: Originally Posted by sup3rsprt True. People at NSA will have no trouble cracking EFS. They would not be cracking EFS, they would crack the supporting systems. But cracking EFS would require a means of cracking AES. And if AES is cracked....well there are bigger problems then.
Btw for the original question: Quote: Decrypting files using the local Administrator account
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In Windows XP and later, there is no default local Data Recovery Agent and no requirement to have one. Setting SYSKEY to mode 2 or 3 (syskey typed in during bootup or stored on a floppy disk) will mitigate the risk of unauthorized decryption through the local Administrator account. This is because the local user's password hashes, stored in the SAM file, are encrypted with the Syskey, and the Syskey value is not available to an offline attacker who does not possess the Syskey passphrase/floppy.
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Files encrypted with EFS can only be decrypted by using the RSA private key(s) matching the previously-used public key(s). The stored copy of the user's private key is ultimately protected by the user's logon password. Accessing encrypted files from outside Windows with other operating systems ( Linux, for example, or even another instance of Windows) is not possible...Further, using special tools to reset the user's login password will render it impossible to decrypt the user's private key and thus useless for gaining access to the user's encrypted files. | My System Specs | | Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number Alienware Aurora ALX R4 OS Windows 7 x64 (SP1) CPU Intel Core i7-3930K (3.2GHz, Turbo 4GHz) Motherboard Alienware Aurora-R4 x79 Memory 4x Samsung 4GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (16GB 1600MHz) Graphics Card Nvidia Geforce GTX 690 (Stock) Sound Card RealTek Integrated Audio Monitor(s) Displays Dell UltraSharp U3011 Screen Resolution 2560x1600 PSU 875W Some Dell PSU <.< Hard Drives Samsung P830 256 GB, WD Raptor 150GB, 2x 1TB HDDs Other Info Dell Inspiron Mini 10v (Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz; 1GB; Windows 7 Ultimate) |
01 Nov 2009
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#10 | | |

Quote: Originally Posted by logicearth But cracking EFS would require a means of cracking AES. Only with extremely strong passwords, assuming EFS has no inherent flaws which is probably not the case.
What you've just quoted is basically everything I rapped up in a nutshell. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Too many to list. OS XP, Seven, 2008R2 CPU AMD, Intel, VIA Motherboard Various Memory Corsair, Kingston, etc. Graphics Card ATI, NVIDIA Monitor(s) Displays Samsung Keyboard qwerty Hard Drives Maxtor, Western Digital Internet Speed 22 Mb/s @ home, 1 Gb/s @ server Other Info All of my systems still run fastest on XP 32-bit for the most part. Win7 is fun to play with, but I still prefer XP for raw speed, security, and functionality. All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:18 AM. | |