How to read & write standard password encrypted ZIP files?

[Robert]

> > Is it possible to write & read standard password encrypted ZIP files
> > easily (using zipfile.ZipFile?)
> 
> It may be supported via some undocumented method.
> 

any more information on that?

> One thing you should be aware of, is that ZIP files have a known 
> cryptographic attack for >= 3 files encrypted with the same password in 
> a zip file.  When there are more than 3 files in a zip file, all 
> encrypted with the same password, only 15 bits of the password is 
> required to decrypt the archive, then (I believe) recover the original 
> password.
> 
> Generally, you would be better off using Python to create the original 
> archive (without encryption), then use some encryption method to secure 
> it.  I hear that mxCrypto is a very spiffy library for Python cryptography.
> 

is there a secure encrypted format, that could be read also by common
tools like WinZIP, WinRAR ?

Robert