Saturday, November 24, 2007

Security: File encryption

What Windows command-line utility lets you encrypt individual files?
1. >>Attrib
2. Convert
3. Cipher
4. Xcopy

Explanation : You can use the Cipher command to encrypt and decrypt individual files. You can also use Cipher to encrypt or decrypt all files in a directory.

You cannot use the Convert command to encrypt files. The Convert command is used to convert a FAT or FAT32 partition to NTFS.

You cannot use the Attrib command to encrypt files. The Attrib command lets you view and modify file and directory attributes. The Attrib command lets you set or clear file and directory attributes. The supported attributes are:
+r/-r Set or clear the read-only attribute.
+a/-a Set or clear the archive attribute.
+s/-s Set or clear the system file attribute.
+h/-h Set or clear the hidden file attribute.

The Xcopy command is used to copy files and folders. If you copy a file to a directory flagged for encryption, the file will be encrypted. However, encryption is a function of the directory, not the Xcopy command.
Objective: Security