AES Crypt 4.6 Released
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 9:58 pm
Folks,
AES Crypt 4.6 was just released. Most of the changes in this release are focused on improved code quality and testing, but there are a few user-facing enhancements.
Perhaps most notably we have bumped up the default key derivation iterations from 300,000 to 600,000. This means little to most people, but in effect it makes it much harder for hackers to brute-force attack a file trying to guess the password.
On Linux desktops, users will now see a progress bar while AES Crypt is running that has a cancel button. This is a feature that was previously only on Windows and Mac.
We also introduced support for Alpine Linux, publishing both a tgz file and apk file.
Have a great summer!
Paul
PS: Here is a bullet-point list of enhancements in this release.
AES Crypt 4.6 was just released. Most of the changes in this release are focused on improved code quality and testing, but there are a few user-facing enhancements.
Perhaps most notably we have bumped up the default key derivation iterations from 300,000 to 600,000. This means little to most people, but in effect it makes it much harder for hackers to brute-force attack a file trying to guess the password.
On Linux desktops, users will now see a progress bar while AES Crypt is running that has a cancel button. This is a feature that was previously only on Windows and Mac.
We also introduced support for Alpine Linux, publishing both a tgz file and apk file.
Have a great summer!
Paul
PS: Here is a bullet-point list of enhancements in this release.
- On Linux desktops, a progress meter is now shown while encrypting or decrypting with the ability to cancel -- something previously available on Windows and Mac
- Increased key derivation iterations for better security in all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix)
- Made it possible to pass the password / key to the command-line version by using "-k -" when encrypting or decrypting (key generation still allows "-k -" to be used for output during key generation)
- Added additional unit test code for our nightly builds (not a user-facing feature, but just part of our continued improvement process)
- Internal changes in the command-line version to make code more readable and better structured
- Removed some code redundancy
- Internal code improvements to align with C++ core guidelines and reduce potential for bugs