WinZip is one of the popular and trusted ways to encrypt files for both windows and mac pc users. It is available for installation on NUS-owned computers.

WinZip supports AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption which provide stronger cryptographic security than the traditional Zip 2.0 encryption method. Comparing 128-bit and 256-bit AES encryption, 256-bit is recommended as it uses longer key length and thus harder for attacker to brute force the password.

Encrypted WinZip archive can be subjected to brute force attack if t it falls to the attacker’s hands, in which they will try all combinations of characters until the correct password is found. Choosing a strong password is important to defend against such attack so that it will take very long for the attack to succeed. Details on the selection of strong password can be found here.

Winzip for Windows can be downloaded from NUS Software Catalogue at http://software.nus.edu.sg/catalogue/ .

If you intend to use Winzip for MAC, please send an email software.request@nus.edu.sg to request for installation instructions and the activation key.