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what's benefits and disadvantages of CBC vs CTR ? which one is more secure ?

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Please show some research effort in your questions.. and they can both be made just as secure if done right. They both have their pros and cons and target different uses. – Thomas Jan 19 at 12:19

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I wrote a rather lengthy answer on another site a few days ago. Bottom-line is that CTR appears to be the "safest" choice, but that does not mean safe. The block cipher mode is only part of the overall protocol. Every mode has its quirks and requires some extra systems in order to use it properly; but in the case of CTR, the design of these extra systems is somewhat easier. For instance, when compared to OFB, there is no risk of a "short cycle" with CTR.

This is why actually usable modes like EAX and GCM internally use CTR.

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You should make it clearer that he should use EAX or GCM, or encrypt-then-HMAC. CTR or CBC by themselves can be very, very dangerous. – Stephen Touset Jan 20 at 1:16

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