zip file encryption

Question

I'm trying to block zip file open...

How to block it.... Is there any other methods except modifying zip header info.

My rosources are packed with zip file but I don't want to open it to users...

Please let me know it

Answer 1

One way would be to have a little program that garbles the header of the zip-file then when you need to unzip the file you restore the header. It is by far not a fool proof method but it may deter some people (Of course your files shouldn't have the .zip extension either since then they may be looking in the first place).

Another, probably better option is encrypt your zip-file either using the zip built in way of encrypting it our use one of the many standard encryption libraries out there.

Answer 2

You can give password protection to zip file. Whoever has the password can only open the file.

From link http://www.dslreports.com/faq/8730, Here is how to add password protection in Windows.

• Right click on the compressed folder and select “Explore.” In “File,”
• select “Add a Password.” Enter the
  password and confirm the password.

Answer 3

As said before, if you give away the data and the key (in whatever form), it's a matter of time and efforts to get those data extracted.

There can be several actions taken to make access to the data more complicated:

1. use password. The simplest to use and the simplest to crack.
2. protect various resources using different keys and always extract only those data that you need for each particular operation. This way you don't ever extract all the data at once and don't keep them unprotected.
3. use custom packaging and encryption, not standard ZIP. The more custom the solution is, the harder it will be to pick the data. Our SolFS product can be used for this purpose. To make things even more complicated, you can read an article.
4. obfuscate the encryption keys.
5. use hardware keys to protect access to the data (read the above article for information about hardware keys).