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Code that helped end Apartheid

(www.wired.com)
358 points impish9208 | 1 comments | 18 Oct 24 13:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.26s | source
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anlsh ◴[19 Oct 24 00:54 UTC] No.41884781[source]▶
Why does a password-protected zip file reveal a list of the files within lol?

If I'm understanding this right, we'd have been hosed if the files had been TARd first?

replies(1): >>41885634 #
1. emmelaich ◴[19 Oct 24 04:28 UTC] No.41885634[source]▶
And then encrypted? Not sure, the known structure of tar (or zip) can help with decryption.

[edit] ...

This is addressed in the article. In fact the zip contained a zip and this helped!

> He realized the zip file contained another zip file, and that since all he needed was the right original text for a specific part of the scrambled text, his best chance was using the first file name mentioned in the zip within the zip.