Type of Encryption used in zipfile command

[Brendan Parker]

Hello,

I am working with a data provider who requires data to be encrypted at rest using the AES-256 encryption method when saved on our servers. In Stata, the command zipfile can be used to add files to a .zip archive, but there is nothing in the documentation which notes the type of encryption method used when adding files to an archive. There are also no options to select the kind encryption used.

Does anybody know what form of encryption is used when saving a file using zipfile?

Thanks!

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

What does "at rest" mean precisely? Is it only when you are not actively working on the dataset?

No form of encryption is allowed or used by Stata's -zipfile- command. If data must remain encrypted, then more needs to be said about the environment in which you are using Stata, and I suppose you should get help from the vendor or your company's or school's IT department (if you have one). There are full-disk encryption standards (e.g., BitLocker) that allow AES-256 encryption. This might be the simplest means to achieve compliance with those requirements. Alternatives could be to store data in an encrypted container using TrueCrypt. However, eventually you need to work with data, and for that to happen, it will be decrypted.

[Jared Greathouse]

Seems like a fun Python-Stata question.

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

Seems like a fun Python-Stata question.

Manipulating the decompression and compression should be straightforward enough to handle with shell commands to utilities that support encrypted archives. 7zip comes to mind, and there might already be a Stata utility to do that.

I think it's not yet clear (to me) what workflow is suggested by these vendor requirements.