RE: Password Protecting files

["Dave Korn" <dave dot korn at artimi dot com>]

On 19 August 2007 11:09, zzapper wrote:

> Hi,
> I would like to password protect a few of my files, and realise I know very
> little about security.
> From man zip I learn
> 
> Encrypt  the  contents of the zip archive using a password which
> is entered on the terminal in response to a  prompt  (this  will
> not  be  echoed;  if  standard error is not a tty, zip will exit
> with an error).  The password prompt is  repeated  to  save  the
> user  from typing errors.  Note that this encrypts with standard
> pkzip encryption which is considered weak.
> 
> I am not trying to protect state secrets so is pkzip encryption adequate?

  Well, it's trivially defeated by lots of easily downloadable software, so
it's the kind of level of protection that would stop anyone casually browsing
through your file but wouldn't stop anyone who actually wanted to read it.

> What other choices do I have?

  gpg seems like a good choice, since it's open source and there's a cygwin
port.  Proper crypto done right.  Choose a nice long high-entropy passphrase
for your keyfiles and it's as close to unbreakable as makes no odds.


    cheers,
      DaveK
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