I want to encrypt my tables. I'm told that

"the table cannot be read by any means other than through ElevateDB with the proper password set in the engine itself"


Where in EDBMan do I set the password in the engine?

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< I want to encrypt my tables. I'm told that

"the table cannot be read by any means other than through ElevateDB with
the proper password set in the engine itself"

Where in EDBMan do I set the password in the engine? >>

Currently you have to modify the source code for the EDB Manager in order to
turn encryption on.  It's not a table-level configuration item anymore in
terms of the password.  It's an engine-level item like the engine signature.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim

>Currently you have to modify the source code for the EDB Manager in order to
>turn encryption on. It's not a table-level configuration item anymore in
>terms of the password. It's an engine-level item like the engine signature.

Hmmm I sense an opportunity for an enhancement

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< Hmmm I sense an opportunity for an enhancement >>

It won't be changing.  The table password crap in DBISAM was a Paradox
throwback and was a nightmare to deal with in the ODBC driver, and it won't
be coming back.  Table passwords are a cheap substitute for proper user
security, and they aren't needed if all you want to do is encrypt the tables
on disk so that they cannot be read externally outside of your application.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim


The enhancement I was thinking about was the ability to alter the encryption/engine signature in EDBMan so I could see tables. Nothing to do with the structure.

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< The enhancement I was thinking about was the ability to alter the
encryption/engine signature in EDBMan so I could see tables. Nothing to do
with the structure. >>

Ahh, okay.  I have to guess because you're being very secretive in your
answers.

I'm looking into the above.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim

>Ahh, okay. I have to guess because you're being very secretive in your
>answers.

Sorry - walking the dog this morning I was thinking this only for the developers so you could either trust the security of their PC's and simply have text files that could be loaded. Store all the potential configuration settings and allow ONE to be chosen  when starting EDBMan.

Slightly more secure have these ONLY maintainable through EDBMan and encrypt on disk, and have the encryption be the same as that you want to apply so you have to know it to load it. Store them all in the same directory as the EDBMan executable and thumb your nose to M$.

Roy Lambert

"Tim Young [Elevate Software]" <timyoung@elevatesoft.com> wrote:

<< It won't be changing.  The table password crap in DBISAM was a Paradox
throwback and was a nightmare to deal with in the ODBC driver, and it won't
be coming back.  Table passwords are a cheap substitute for proper user
security, and they aren't needed if all you want to do is encrypt the tables
on disk so that they cannot be read externally outside of your application. >>

So how do you open an encrypted table that was sent in from a user? Where do you enter the
encryption password?
Or are you saying all the dbElevate packages that you sell are using the same encryption
password?
If yes, then can't someone break into the encrypted table just by getting his own copy of
ElevateDb?

Sam

Sam


The ElevateDB engine holds the encryption password and signature. As of build 6 this means that if you want to use EDBMan with different encryption or signature you have to re-compile the app.

Your own apps can have unique encryption/signatures on whatever basis you fancy. Since DBISAM v4 this has been "strong" encryption so you can't dig it out of the tables as you could with v3.

Roy Lambert

Sam,

<< So how do you open an encrypted table that was sent in from a user? >>

We ask them for the encryption password and use it in the test application
(TEDBEngine.EncryptionPassword).

<< Or are you saying all the dbElevate packages that you sell are using the
same encryption password? >>

No, it can be customized as necessary for each application.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com