AES-256 Bit Encryption Question

[Orangeator]

Okay, so my family and I (due to me insisting) use this program https://www.aescrypt.com/ to encrypt important information such as banking records, credit card statements, personal information... Etc. I personally use passwords larger than 24 characters but my parents when bringing files to accountants on USB sticks tend to use a 14 character password. Let say they lost their USB stick somewhere and somebody tried decrypting the files off it. Could they?

[ScratchCat]

https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/1x50xl/time_and_energy_required_to_bruteforce_a_aes256/

Its safe.

[Electronics Wizardy]

If the program is written correctly, it will be basically impossible to get past it.

[CBojorges]

26 minutes ago, ScratchCat said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/1x50xl/time_and_energy_required_to_bruteforce_a_aes256/

Its safe.

That's for breaking aes 256. I think that op is asking if a 14 character length is enough. 

 

I'd say 14 is more than enough as there are n^14 possible passwords to go through (where n is the number of possible characters e.g. numbers, special characters). 

[Mira Yurizaki]

As far as AES-256 goes, it's secure against brute force attacks since it's still infeasible to do so. Most attacks on AES use some other method (like side channel) which require techniques that aren't worth a cracker's time for the most part.

 

For passwords though, why not use a passphrase?

[Curious Pineapple]

Just make sure the password isn't stored in password.txt on the drive itself....