AES encrypted file take years to crack

To crack 17-character AES password: 100 years and 1 billion dollars like most other archiving tools, 7-Zip is also capable of encrypting your files. To do this, it utilizes industry standard AES-256 encryption (a.k.a. Rijn Dael) and recommends a password strength of 10 characters or more. The Help-function in 7-Zip has a nice illustration of what it would take to crack a secure AES password. To accomplish this, one would need:

• cesspools of time
• a processor capable of checking 10 passwords per second 
• to check 10 billion passwords per second, a budget of at least 1 billion dollars

To illustrate the importance of adequate password length, here’s a comparative table:

Password Length	Single User Attack	Organization Attack
1	2 s	1 s
2	1 min	1 s
3	30 min	1 s
4	12 hours	1 s
5	14 days	1 s
6	1 year	1 s
7	10 years	1 s
8	19 years	20 s
9	26 years	9 min
10	37 years	4 hours
11	46 years	4 days
12	55 years	4 months
14	64 years	4 years
15	82 years	22 years
16	91 years	31 years
17	100 years	40 years