adding password protection to a file

[RogueHart]

ive got some files i want to store on data cd's/dvd 's but i want to put a password on the files before i put them on there. what im going to do is put these files into a zip folder then put a password on that and burn it to cd. but i need a program to put the password on them.

dont say winrar. winrar puts a pass on it but its extremely easy to crack and i'd like it to be at least or more secure than that.

does anyone know of a program like this?

[vector]

both are just as easy to crack. why dont you try something like encrypting the files, maybe changing the file extensions also, then throwing them into a password protected zip or rar.

[digip]

TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt the files and just keep TrueCrypt with you on a flash drive when taking the cd/dvd wherever you go. You can even copy the TrueCrupt program itself to the CD/DVD as well. No one will ever be able to unlock it unless they guess your password.

[Sparda]

if you use 7zip's 7z archive format you can use AES encryption. Given a strong password it is near impossible to crack.

[rtc443]

i sometimes use a program called i believe AxCrypt...try it see if it helps

[RogueHart]

thanks for the help guys. ill use 7zip more than likely since i need to dl it to my comp anyway.

[Xarf]

TrueCrypt's your best choice, offering a large range of encryption types & algorythms.

Just keep a copy of the TC installer with you or keep it installed on a flash disk.

[will-wtf]

Folder lock is by far the best, physically hides the folder, so you have to have folderlock open and with the password in to see the files, even though they could be sitting the disk, there is no trace.

[Sparda]

Folder lock is by far the best, physically hides the folder, so you have to have folderlock open and with the password in to see the files, even though they could be sitting the disk, there is no trace.

Security threw obscurity fail

[will-wtf]

Security threw obscurity fail

you think?

[gcninja]

I was under the impression that winRar used AES like 7zip does, am i wrong to presum this?

that and why not both will and sparda, incase its found its still encrypted

[vector]

I was under the impression that winRar used AES like 7zip does, am i wrong to presum this?

that and why not both will and sparda, incase its found its still encrypted

winrar does support aes encryption also, but just tossing a bunch of files into a single encrypted archive could be easily cracked by something like elcomsoft advanced archive password recovery. one way you could make it nearly impossible is to give every single file within the archive a different password. but then you might just go ahead and forget all that. i suppose theres lots of things you can do to hide/protect your data. the attrib commands to hide files from even system administrators, multiple encryption methods, physical security from your data backups, etc. it just all depends on how important your data is and how hard you think someone will try to get to it. i mean if youre trying to hide some side sluts phone number from your wife or your myspace passwords, i wouldnt go too far trying to protect your data. but the bottom line is, if computers can make it, then computers can take it apart. youre never 100% secure.

[RogueHart]

i just want something that will have a password set on it. so that when i double click it winrar prompts for a password instead of just opening the file. i used 7zip and set a password but winrar opened it right up without a second thought.

[vector]

i just want something that will have a password set on it. so that when i double click it winrar prompts for a password instead of just opening the file. i used 7zip and set a password but winrar opened it right up without a second thought.

i havent used 7zip in a while but heres some screen shots of how to do it in winrar the first thing you want to do is check the box that says "put authenticity verification" and "lock archive". the next one youll want to chose a password.

[Mat]

you think?

That's the idea, yeah.

Peer review increases security, closed source non-free apps that claim to be secure may not be as secure as they claim. Please do take a look at truecrypt. I have looked at both, and while folder lock does look pretty, with it's nice graphical interface that looks like a safe (so it MUST be secure, right?) I find that the simple encryption used and the fact that the software is not free would put me off using it for any real data.

Worse yet, they seem only to have windows versions available, which in my opinion makes their software broken by design.

[will-wtf]

That's the idea, yeah.

and while folder lock does look pretty, with it's nice graphical interface that looks like a safe (so it MUST be secure, right?)

Yep,

if it's a bunch of disk just hide it?

[shido]

why dont you just use some program to zip it up and password protect it/encrypt and the when the folder/all files are in one file be it a zip/rar/tar.gz etc then you hide it in a another file like maybe an image or something when you open the image it will just be an image, i use to do this alot, i used to do it in mp3s and the mp3s would work fine i dont know why i try it nowadays and it doesnt work but the image thing still works. Basically you just do what i said and then save it as a png or something then people wont expect anything because png are usually much bigger than jpeg's.

I know how to do this in windows,but i forgot how to do it in linux.

Anyways when you want to view the actual files again you just right click the image and open with winrar or what ever program you used to zip it and the program will show you the zipd file.

in windows cmd you can type copy /b the-image.jpg + your-file.zip new-file.jpg

Well ok i take it you understood that command or probably already know it. Maybe you can mess around with other file types

In linux you use the cat command but like i said i forgot how to do it lol sorry

Anyways hope that helped

[shido]

sorry for posting twice but i remember the cat command its

cat file-you-wana-hide.zip >> file-that-you-hiding-in.jpg

then the jpg file will contain your hidden file. To view your hidden file you just rename the extension of the image or whatever you used to the extension of the file you hiding in this case we just rename jpg to zip. The image will still be seen in the the thumbnail but when you open it it will open as a zip. I just tried it now :D

[Sparda]

cat file-you-wana-hide.zip >> file-that-you-hiding-in.jpg

mv file-you-wana-hide.zip file-that-you-hiding-in.jpg

[ne3jedi]

In NetTools 5.0 i think it is. There is a program that will take your file put it in an EXE and then Password protect it. I have used it for txt files but have not tried it on any other file types yet but it should work.

[RogueHart]

sorry guys. forgot to edit. after a lil bit of work i got 7zip working properly

[Sparda]

In NetTools 5.0 i think it is. There is a program that will take your file put it in an EXE and then Password protect it. I have used it for txt files but have not tried it on any other file types yet but it should work.

Does it encrypt the data or just hide it?

[ne3jedi]

Does it encrypt the data or just hide it?

I think its just injection and extraction, but there are encryption tools also in NetTools