If you're looking for simple password protection, PKZIP, WinZip, etc. will work fine. In order to have key-based encryption, you would have to supply the end recipient with the key as well.
The danger of having just password protection is that passwords are easily brute-forced. If you use a public-key encryption programme such as GnuPG or PgP, you will have an extra layer of security. However, this means the final recipient of the file would have to generate a key pair, and send you the public half. If you use a symmetric encryption, such as GnuPG's -c option, and have a secure channel to transport the key (such as handing them a floppy disk), a password on top of that would be adequate. Note also that many encryption programmes are intended for ascii text. If you're encrypting a binary (programme, database, document, etc.) file, you should uuencode it first, turning it into a text file. You could then uudecode it after decryption. But you can check the documentation of your programme to see if it supports binaries. That being said, check out http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html and see if this will suit your needs. Jay Stapleton Oxygen Technical Services -----Original Message----- From: . . [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 6:56 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Encryption Tool Wanted Hi I'm looking for a free encryption tool that has been properly tested and implements a strong encryption algorithm. Most of the tools I've found so far are commercial and usually attract a US$30-50 fee. I would like to find a tool that simply enforces password protection and encrypts whatever file using a strong encryption algorithm. Of course, extra features such as support for zip files, and/or the ability to create a self extracting encrypted file (so that the receiver doesn't need to have the encryption program in order to decrypt the file, but rather just the correct password) are very welcome. Anyone who has any recommendations? Cheers, Mikael Holmqvist _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
