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I have some files I was given by my teacher at University, I could chase him up, but I may as well try getting blood from a stone, his response rate isn't great and I completed my degree a year ago!
They are PDF files stored inside password-protected zip files. As far as I remember,the passwords are networking related, have upper and lowercase and numbers, but no special characters and some are permutations of each other "passwordL1", "l2Password" etc.
What are the different encryption algorithms employed by .zip files? How can I determine the protection in use on my zip files? Where can I find good papers and tools, which will ultimately give me back the pdfs which are annoyingly hidden by the password?