Breaking 224-bit Blowfish encryption

Question

I have a bunch of encrypted files that I want to decrypt (duh). I found out they are encrypted with Blowfish using a 224-bit key after some research. I know what the first f

Answer 1

There is no chance of you brute-forcing the key*. Assuming there is a meet-in-the-middle attack for Blowfish that reduces it to testing 2^112 keys, there isn't enough computing power on the planet to have a decent chance of brute-forcing the key before the Sun goes cold. The NSA couldn't do it either, if that's any consolation, although it's conceivable they can solve Blowfish rather than guess keys.

Unless you can find the keys, you aren't going to read the files.

*Technically, you do have a chance. However, it's far more likely that you'll win a national lottery twice (assuming you buy a ticket for two drawings).