Hi Neil.
Information (in most cases a string < 100 chars, but that's probably not
important) that actually needs to be decrypted, so a hash won't do.
Jim
On 3/20/2010 5:09 PM, Tompkins Neil wrote:
Hi
What sort of information are you looking to encrypt ? If it is for user
passwords I'd recommend SHA256 which is one way encryption. Or are you
looking to encrypt more sensitive information like card holder data ?
Regards
Neil
On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 4:22 PM, Jim <j...@lowcarbfriends.com
<mailto:j...@lowcarbfriends.com>> wrote:
Thanks for the reply, John.
What you are describing seems to be the approach I've seen on the
few places I've seen this topic discussed.
I've been considering something along those lines, essentially a two
part key.
Part one of the key is made from some data that is in the record I
want to protect and it is different for each record, very much like
you suggest.
Part two of the key is some constant key value I store somewhere.
The full key is created based on some defined manipulation of the
two parts, much like you suggest I believe.
But, then the issue comes of where to store part two of the key.
In your case, you are storing it in a stored procedure and I assume
that stored procedure resides on the same mysql server that holds
the data you want to protect.
That's where I start questioning the security of that approach. The
assumption being if someone got full control of that mysql box then
essentially all your eggs are in one basket.
I was thinking in terms of a most secure solution, you could have a
separate server (perhaps a mysql server) that for the purpose of
this example only serves part two of the key. That server is well
protected and non-public as is the mysql server that stores the data.
This way, two servers have to be compromised in order to gain all
the parts of the key and data. But, of course, that's kind of a
waste of a server and can you afford that and the extra resources
that go along with maintaining another server.
So, I was thinking, is it really so bad to store only one part of
the key in source code. That source code resides on a separate
server from the mysql server. Yes, the server that stores the source
code is a public server, but at least it's two servers that have to
be compromised to give up all the components needed to gain access
to the encrypted data.
I suppose maybe if I ask you to expand on what you mean by the
following that would be helpful to further understand your approach:
"I then store the logic in a database stored procedure and use
database security to prevent unauthorised access".
Thanks,
Jim
On 3/19/2010 6:39 AM, John Daisley wrote:
Jim,
I tend to derive a key based on a separate character string and the
contents of the data in the same or a related table. This means
each row
has a unique encryption key and you never have to have the whole key
stored somewhere (you don't even know it :p ). Biggest advantage
to this
is should someone get hold of your data they have to work out your
character string and the logic for deriving the key or attempt
to hack
each and every individual row of the table because no two rows
will ever
have the same key.
For example, in a table with the columns `username`,
`email_address`,
`password`, `jointime` (where password is encrypted with
AES_ENCRYPT) I
may Use a charcter string of "awfully_complex_char_string-" and
derive
the key like so
CONCAT("awfully_complex_char_string-",SUBSTRING(`email_address`,1,LOCATE("@",`email_address`)-1),CAST(`jointime`
AS CHAR))
I then store the logic in a database stored procedure and use
database
security to prevent unauthorised access. At no point do I have this
logic outside the database in any external application or
script! That
would be silly :)
Regards
John Daisley
On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 7:26 PM, Jim <j...@lowcarbfriends.com
<mailto:j...@lowcarbfriends.com>
<mailto:j...@lowcarbfriends.com <mailto:j...@lowcarbfriends.com>>>
wrote:
In terms of encryption functions AES_DECRYPT and
AES_ENCRYPT, can
anyone point to any good links or offer any suggestions in
terms of
best practices on storage of the associated symmetric key? I've
found very little information on this when searching.
Does MySQL offer any asymmetric encryption capabilities?
What are people using in terms of a good solution for encrypting
specific columns of table data while providing protection of
the key?
Thanks,
Jim
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