How Has WinRAR Encryption Improved with RAR 5.00?

The password-based key derivation function is now based on (PBKDF2) using HMAC-SHA256; this is the core of the WinRAR security mechanism.

• A special password verification value detects wrong passwords without unpacking the entire file.
• If archive headers are not encrypted ("encrypt file names" option is disabled), file checksums for encrypted RAR 5.0 files are modified using a special password dependent algorithm. This prevents third parties from guessing file contents based on checksums.

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