Word on the Mac: anyone know of a password decrypt program for Word files?

[emjayess]

I've searched the web and cannot find anything to crack a password for some of my old Word files. I keep putting off trying to find something, then I get an itch to look (like today), and I find nothing.

I'm running an older version of Microsoft Office for Mac--2008, and I'm using El Capitan.

Thank you for any help you can offer!

 

[rchacko]

I regret to inform you that what you're asking for kinda goes against the whole purpose of file encryption (sorry, I couldn't resist). Having said that a more useful solution would be as follows. If you used something along the lines of a 256 bit hash, you're kinda out of luck outside of brute force. Which takes a bit of computing power but isn't super hard considering chances are your password probably wasn't too complex (lazy passwords include password1, password2, etc...) then the brute force solution probably will work as modern cracking software starts from that. I can't recommend a single piece of software but depending on how much you want what's on the file, you can use penetration software found within the Kali linux distribution. Again, all of this is with the implication that what you're looking for belongs to you. Ethical hacking is the only acceptable form of hacking! Have a nice day!

 

[emjayess]

I regret to inform you that what you're asking for kinda goes against the whole purpose of file encryption (sorry, I couldn't resist). Having said that a more useful solution would be as follows. If you used something along the lines of a 256 bit hash, you're kinda out of luck outside of brute force. Which takes a bit of computing power but isn't super hard considering chances are your password probably wasn't too complex (lazy passwords include password1, password2, etc...) then the brute force solution probably will work as modern cracking software starts from that. I can't recommend a single piece of software but depending on how much you want what's on the file, you can use penetration software found within the Kali linux distribution. Again, all of this is with the implication that what you're looking for belongs to you. Ethical hacking is the only acceptable form of hacking! Have a nice day!

Oh, yes, these are my files with just my stuff in them etc. I swore I used the same couple of passwords on them (there are only 5 or 6 of the files) I used to use for that sort of thing. I made them on a PC years ago and more or less forgot about them. I've been using a Mac since 2011 (thank god!) and from time to time I try my old passwords to open them with no success.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and I'll check them out!

EDIT: OK, I just did a search and found the Kali web site, but I'm not sure where to go from there. Do you know 1) what Kali linux image I should download and 2) how to use it? I tried opening one and I do not have an "application to open the document" etc. Thanks!