'hacking into' my personal encrypted files and decrypting them

Question

few months ago i encrypted some personal data on my hdd, but wen my hdd messed up i copyed them onto my external hdd, formatted my laptop and tryed to copy them back... but i forgot to (or didnt realise i had to) decrypt the files before i formatted my hdd, so im stuck with the files still on my external hdd, encrypted and access being denied when it try to open or decrypted them.   is there a way i can 'hack into' those files past the encryption, decrypting them, so i can access them normally.     inspiron 8600 xp pro sp2

jmwills · Answer

Without the keys, there is NO way to decrypt these files.  This is the whole purpose of decrypting them.

desertwurm · Answer

TimWalden,                  How did you encrypt the files? Did you use Windows to encrypt it or a third-party solution like PGP? There are ways of recovering encrypted files. For example, if you encrypted the files using Microsoft Windows, Windows provides a way of recovering those files, say if an employee encrypted the files and left.   -Mike

jmwills · Answer

You have to have the keys.

desertwurm · Answer

You can recover the files if you are using EFS in a Windows environement and a recovery agent has been set up. You can read about it here:   http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/smallbusiness/topics/cryptographyetc/protect_data_efs.mspx#EPE   'File Recovery certificates. This type of certificate allows the holder to recover encrypted files and folders throughout a domain or other scope, no matter who encrypted them'   If it was setup correctly, the person who is the recovery agent can decrypt the files that a user encrypted even if that user has forgotten their key.   There are a number of different systems that administrators can put in place to help in situations were keys have been lost such as Key Escrow. There are also various programs for Windows designed to help with the recovery of encrypted file systems.   -Mike

Windows General

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