What is "Cipher Strength"?

[SharkB8]

If this post doesn't belong here, I applogize. Can someone explain what "ciper strength" is as it relates to I.E. I have 56bit right now, do I need 128bit? Running WIN98SE.

 

[Damaged]

That's the strenght of the encryption scheme used, by IE, your browser, in this case.

Why not go to 128bit? It's freely downloadable and some sites, online trading for instance, will require it. Might as well.

 

[Mark R]

40 bit encryption (As supplied with IE4 and older) provides defence against casual hackers, but can be defeated by any determined eavesdropper with a modern PC.
56 bit is a reasonable strength. It can protect against all but well funded eavesdroppers.

128 bit encryption is unbreakable by current civilian technology (and probably military/government technology as well).

If you are concerned with security then it is a simple matter to upgrade to 128 bit.

You are far more likely to have your personal information stolen from the remote end due to carelessness by the administrators, then in transit over a secure connection (even at 56 bit).

 

[Agamar]

Hahahaha. 128 bit unbreakable

 

[xtreme2k]

well
128bit encyption using brute force on current PC is pretty much unbreakable

HOWEVER, there are other ways to crack encyption other than brute force... and very smart 'decyphers' will use those methods to decrypt the msg and it is possible to do with some simplier PCs

 

[SharkB8]

Thanks for all the great info guys. I upgraded to 128bit last night. I was totally painless and was included in the upgrade from IE 5.0 to IE 5.01. (I am not sold on IE 5.5 just yet.)
Thanks.