AES-256 in Linux

[Bunghole]

I have some AES-256 encrypted zip files that I need to open in Linux.  Can someone tell me what the best encryption tool in Linux is?

From what I read, 7-zip and RAR have a command-line version for Linux.  So, that would work, but a GUI is easier and faster to use.

I am not interested in GPG because I don't want to mess with keys.  I simply want to encrypt and decrypt using AES-256 in Linux with a single password, using a GUI instead of command-line.  In other words, a WinRAR-type program that runs in Linux.

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[Yatta99]

Why not just run WinRAR using WINE?

[RambJoe]

Does Xarchiver do that?

I'd stay away from WINE.

[Bunghole]

Both are good ideas - thanks.

[BitCoinBarter]

BH,

Have you considered using a portable app?

Goto http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable and download the 7-Zip portable.
You can use that portable (and many others) with Wine.

You can use 7-Zip to compress files into many formats. To encrypt with AES, you will have to use the 7-Zip (i.e., 7z) or Zip format.

How does 7z and Zip compare?

Zip is older and is more known.  

7-Zip provides better compression i.e., it will make a smaller file size (in most cases).  
You can encrypt file names with 7-Zip (not with Zip).  e.g., You encrypt a wallet.dat file into 7z and call that file backup.7z. When you (or anyone) goes to open that file (to extract a file or files), they will not know the names of the files or how many files there are until you put in the password. With an encrypted Zip, you can determine the name of the files and how many there are.

In both cases, you will not be able to extract/decrypt until you put in the password. Which is what you want.  

After you compress/encrypt the file (or files), you will have two files. The compress/encrypted file and the old file/plain text file. Remember to shred the plain text file (I know you know this). I use a program called Bleach to do that (which is available for Linux and Windows). Hey, there is even a portable version of Bleach, however I haven't tried it.

If you have never used the 7z GUI before, then it may seem a little strange at first. Play with it a while, it's not that bad.
You could use the portable to extract/decrypt a file. If you have 7-Zip installed in your system, then it is not necessary. Just click on the file and put in your password.

[Hasimir]

I have some AES-256 encrypted zip files that I need to open in Linux.  Can someone tell me what the best encryption tool in Linux is?

From what I read, 7-zip and RAR have a command-line version for Linux.  So, that would work, but a GUI is easier and faster to use.

I am not interested in GPG because I don't want to mess with keys.  I simply want to encrypt and decrypt using AES-256 in Linux with a single password, using a GUI instead of command-line.  In other words, a WinRAR-type program that runs in Linux.

Don't use RAR or Zip, the implementations aren't great.

On Linux you have 3 options:

1) GPG using symmetric encryption (the "-c" flag), you won't need keys to do that.

2) OpenSSL can encrypt individual files.

3) TrueCrypt.

[deepceleron]

I have some AES-256 encrypted zip files that I need to open in Linux.  Can someone tell me what the best encryption tool in Linux is?

From what I read, 7-zip and RAR have a command-line version for Linux.  So, that would work, but a GUI is easier and faster to use.

I am not interested in GPG because I don't want to mess with keys.  I simply want to encrypt and decrypt using AES-256 in Linux with a single password, using a GUI instead of command-line.  In other words, a WinRAR-type program that runs in Linux.

Don't use RAR or Zip, the implementations aren't great.

On Linux you have 3 options:

1) GPG using symmetric encryption (the "-c" flag), you won't need keys to do that.

2) OpenSSL can encrypt individual files.

3) TrueCrypt.

That is not an answer to the question. Re-read bolded quoted text.

If the files were 7-zip .7z encrypted files, then one could just use open source and free p7zip. http://askubuntu.com/questions/13474/how-do-i-extract-a-password-protected-7z-file

Winzip has extended the standard zip format with proprietary extensions to support such encryption, which means more clicks on their noob-button "click here to register".

[Hasimir]

I have some AES-256 encrypted zip files that I need to open in Linux.  Can someone tell me what the best encryption tool in Linux is?

From what I read, 7-zip and RAR have a command-line version for Linux.  So, that would work, but a GUI is easier and faster to use.

I am not interested in GPG because I don't want to mess with keys.  I simply want to encrypt and decrypt using AES-256 in Linux with a single password, using a GUI instead of command-line.  In other words, a WinRAR-type program that runs in Linux.

Don't use RAR or Zip, the implementations aren't great.

On Linux you have 3 options:

1) GPG using symmetric encryption (the "-c" flag), you won't need keys to do that.

2) OpenSSL can encrypt individual files.

3) TrueCrypt.

That is not an answer to the question. Re-read bolded quoted text.

If the files were 7-zip .7z encrypted files, then one could just use open source and free p7zip. http://askubuntu.com/questions/13474/how-do-i-extract-a-password-protected-7z-file

Winzip has extended the standard zip format with proprietary extensions to support such encryption, which means more clicks on their noob-button "click here to register".

Ah, sorry about that.  I read "encryption" and thought that's what you intended to do.

If it really is just password protected zipfiles then unzip (normally /usr/bin/unzip) should do the job.  You can either run "unzip $filename.zip" and enter the password at the prompt or "unzip -P $password $filename.zip" to decrypt and extract the files.

Most distributions come with zip and unzip, which are free implementations of pkzip.  If they are not available or unable to decrypt the files then you will have to use software which replicates the implementation used to create the files.  If that happens to be some proprietary, closed source addition of Winzip's then you may not have a choice except to use Winzip in this case.

[Bitsky]

I have some AES-256 encrypted zip files that I need to open in Linux.  Can someone tell me what the best encryption tool in Linux is?

From what I read, 7-zip and RAR have a command-line version for Linux.  So, that would work, but a GUI is easier and faster to use.

I am not interested in GPG because I don't want to mess with keys.  I simply want to encrypt and decrypt using AES-256 in Linux with a single password, using a GUI instead of command-line.  In other words, a WinRAR-type program that runs in Linux.

Maybe PeaZip: http://peazip.sourceforge.net/peazip-linux.html

- 7Z files' AES256 encryption
- ZIP WinZip's AE encryption based on AES256 (and ZipCrypto for legacy compatibility); can decrypt PKZip's AES encryption
- FreeARC's ARC: AES256, Blowfish, Twofish256 and Serpent256; this format also supports recovery records to protect data against corruption
- PEA: AES256 EAX authenticated encryption

[Xenland]

If you use ubuntu you should be able to decrypt archive filetypes with out downloading anything, Not sure about encrypting

[exotime]

Use symmetric encryption from GPG. Added advantage is it's installed in almost all Linux distro's by default, so any emergency LiveCD in the future should be able to decrypt your data, provided you remember your password.