Today AES 256-bit encryption is the most robust encryption standard available. The Advanced Encryption System (AES) is the current encryption standard chosen by the U.S. government since 2001. It’s quickly become the encryption standard for most private sector enterprises. AES is also the first publicly available cipher approved by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to protect top-secret information. AES was first known as Rijndael, named after its two developers, Belgian cryptographers Vincent Rijmen and Joan Daemen.
AES-256 is practically unbreakable
AES-256 has a key length of 256 bits, which supports the largest bit size and is unbreakable by brute force. This means it would take the fastest computer in the world millions if not billions of years to crack. Here are the possible combinations:
| Key Size | Possible Combinations |
| 1 bit | 2 |
| 2 bits | 4 |
| 4 bits | 16 |
| 8 bits | 256 |
| 16 bits | 65536 |
| 32 bits | 4.2 x 109 |
| 56 bits (DES) | 7.2 x 1016 |
| 64 bits | 1.8 x 1019 |
| 128 bits (AES) | 3.4 x 1038 |
| 192 bits (AES) | 6.2 x 1057 |
| 256 bits (AES) | 1.1 x 1077 |
How to Encrypt your GUNTRACK data
Step 1 – (New User) Create a GUNTRACK account
- Sign Up here
- Enter a valid email address you have access to.
- Enter your account password. This will be your account password. This password is NOT the passphrase you will need to decrypt your account (we will get to that step later.)
- Enter your agency/promo code (if you have one)
- Proceed to hit “Sign Up”
Step 2 – (New User) Verify Your GUNTRACK account email address
- Once you hit Sign up, you should see a pop-up that says “Verification Email Sent.”
- Check the email account you used in Sign up.
- Click on the link in the email.
- You will get another pop-up saying that the email has been verified.
Step 3 – Log-In Using Email and Password
- Go Back to the Log-In page
- Enter Email
- Enter Password
- Click on Log-In
Step 4 – Create your Encryption Passphrase
- Please make sure to read this carefully.
- Enter your own Passphrase or password “MyownpasswordIlike” or hit “Auto Generate”
Step 5 – Download a copy of your Passphrase
- Once you select a Passphrase hit download
- Download and save a copy of your passphrase
- Print a hard copy (optional)
- You do not want to lose this Passphrase
Step 6 – Save or Print Your Passphrase
- Save or print your passphrase
Step 7 – Log In to GUNTRACK
- First input your username and password
- You will then be prompted for your passphrase
- The passphrase is necessary to decrypt your account
