Create a Password Protected ZIP

By  on  

Have you ever wanted to put very basic security (a passphrase) on a file?  You can do so if you ZIP the file -- let's have a look at how you can password-protect a ZIP file!

Creating a password protected ZIP file from command line is done so via the following command:

# zip -er {file name to be created} {source directory or file}
zip -er my-generated-file.zip source-file.rtf

When someone tries to unzip the file, they'll be prompted for a password.

Don't be under any illusion that a password makes the ZIP file too secure:  ZIP files don't self-destruct after a given number of attempts so a brute force effort to crack the password would ultimately be effective.  If you do, however, want a very basic level of security for the contents of a file, this command will get you there.

Recent Features

  • By
    I’m an Impostor

    This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write, much less admit to myself.  I've written resignation letters from jobs I've loved, I've ended relationships, I've failed at a host of tasks, and let myself down in my life.  All of those feelings were very...

  • By
    9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos

    The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks.  Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead.  Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    JavaScript Canvas Image Conversion

    At last week's Mozilla WebDev Offsite, we all spent half of the last day hacking on our future Mozilla Marketplace app. One mobile app that recently got a lot of attention was Instagram, which sold to Facebook for the bat shit crazy price of one...

  • By
    Create Spinning Rays with CSS3 Animations &#038; JavaScript

    Thomas Fuchs, creator of script2 (scriptaculous' second iteration) and Zepto.js (mobile JavaScript framework), creates outstanding animated elements with JavaScript.  He's a legend in his own right, and for good reason:  his work has helped to inspire developers everywhere to drop Flash and opt...

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!