Windows – Looking for command line encryption utility for Windows

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I am looking for command line encryption utility for Windows – paid or free. Would prefer it to support AES-256. It has to be something with large user base and actively in development. Need to be able to specify password in command line – not looking to use private/public keys.

It will be used as a part of my backup process. In a nutshell I would just use Winzip or 7-zip encryption but the list of files in encrypted archive is visible and I don't like that. So the plan is to zip files without the password and then encrypt ZIP file itself.

I do use TrueCrypt but it is not convenient for this process – one has to backup whole volume which is not effective storage-wise plus one cannot create encrypted volumes from the command line as far as I know.

Basically looking for something like this: http://hcrypto.sourceforge.net/ but this software doesn't seem to be under active development.

Best Answer

In the command line version of 7-zip 7z.exe you can use the -p switch to set a password. This will also enable header encryption ( -mhe option for the 7z format) which means file names will also be encrypted.

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Backing up data in an encrypted way

Actually, TrueCrypt might help you greatly here. As part of an automated process, say via batch file, you could:

Mount a TrueCrypt volume using TrueCrypt's command line interface (or just do it manually).
Copy the files you want to back up into the mounted volume.
Unmount the volume.
Upload the TrueCrypt container to the server in the manner of your choosing.

Encryption – Simple File Encryption for Unskilled Mac and Windows Users

[based on my comment...] How about storing the data in multiple (redundant) formats for compatibility? I think having a copy in encrypted zip format (for Windows, and probably many other OSes), and another copy in encrypted Mac disk image format for OS X? This'll be a little annoying to set up (or update), since you need to create/update two copies in sync.

How to create the disk image depends on whether you expect to need to update the data. If it will be updated, run Disk Utility, choose File > New > Blank Disk Image, then set the volume name to something reasonable, set the size larger than you expect to need, select an encryption mode, and set the Image Format to "sparse disk image". After creating the image, you can add, remove, and replace the files in the image and it'll expand as needed (up to the size limit you set).

If you don't expect to need to update the data, put the files to be encrypted in a folder, then in Disk Utility choose File > New > Disk Image from Folder, then select the folder to be encrypted, then select an encryption mode and set Image Format to "compressed". This makes a smaller image (depending on how compressible the data is), but it cannot be updated.

Once the image is properly created, you can replicate its contents into an encrypted zip archive by mounting the image, then running the commands:

cd /Volumes
zip -r --encrypt /path/to/where/to/put/archive.zip imagevolumename

Warning: this uses the original zip encryption method, which is not very secure. If this isn't good enough, you'll have to use tools other than those supplied by default in OS X.

Best Answer

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Backing up data in an encrypted way

Encryption – Simple File Encryption for Unskilled Mac and Windows Users

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