I am attempting to write a financial app in php with a mysql database. I want to encrypt certain items like account numbers and transaction amounts. I know I can do a simple XOR with a secret key for most items but I was wondering how to encrypt the floats (amounts) so that I will still have the ability to retreive SUM and AVG. I was going to do a simple XOR and to get a sum do something like SUM(Amount^SecretKey) but that doesn't seem to work with floats. Any ideas?
P.S. I am runninf the site via SSL so I already knwo about the internet security issues. I just want the DB elements to be encrypted in such a way as to still use them effectivly in mysql - still be able to do mathmatical functions on them.
Thanks,
JK
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You can check out the mathematical functions provided by MySQL (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/
encode X => EXP(LOG2(X))
decode X => POW(2, LN(X))
Combining a couple functions together may make it more difficult for somebody to crack, but this will not stop even a moderately skillful hacker. If you data is truly sensitive, I would STRONGLY suggest finding a new web hosting company that will work with your security needs.
--Adrian
You could use the php mcrypt functions to add an extra layer of security for the credit card numbers. See:
http://us3.php.net/mcrypt
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: AdrianSRUPosted on 2005-10-19 at 17:36:44ID: 15120945
I think that it is overkill to encrypt the actual data in your database. There are other ways to secure your data that MySQL supports directly:
1. Restrict user privileges to tables/columns that contain sensitive data (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/
2. Use only SSL connections (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/
3. Implement permission restrictions on the mysql/data directory on the server. This will have to be done through your operating system.
If you implement these items, then your data will be much more protected than your can make it by encrypting the data in the tables.
--Adrian