Question Is AEXCrypt still good and up-to-date for encrypting files? How long should strong password be these days?

omega3

Senior member
Feb 19, 2015
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For encrypting single files to send to someone, is AEXCrypt still good and up-to-date? It's official website looks rather old so not sure if this program is still being updated if even necessary.

Also, how long should a password be to be safe? AEXCrypt uses AES 256 bit I believe, so if you use a password with 12 or 16 random letters andn numbers, lower and uppercase, how many years would a brute force take to crack it? What length is recommended and should you include special signs like ! or @.