Create a Password Protected ZIP

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.