README
= Sentry lib - painless encryption library
Sentry is a simple wrapper around the mostly undocumented OpenSSL encryption classes.
For now, look at the pseudo test cases in sentry.rb until I can get more examples written out.
== Resources
Install
- gem install sentry
Rubyforge project
RDocs
Subversion
Collaboa
== Using with ActiveRecord
I wrote this for the purpose of encrypting ActiveRecord attributes. Just <tt>require 'sentry'</tt>, and some new class methods will be available to you:
=== generates_crypted
generates_crypted :password, :mode => :sha | :symmetric | :asymmetric
This is the generic class method to use. Default mode is :sha.
=== generates_crypted_hash_of
generates_crypted_hash_of :password
This is a shortcut for using SHA encryption. No different than specifying <tt>generates_crypted :password</tt>. In the above example, model.password is a virtual field, and the SHA hash is saved to model.crypted_password
=== asymmetrically_encrypts
asymmetrically_encrypts :password
This is a shortcut for using an asymmetrical algorithm with a private/public key file. To use this, generate a public and private key with Sentry::AsymmetricalSentry.save_random_rsa_key(private_key_file, public_key_file). If you want to encrypt the private key file with a symmetrical algorithm, pass a secret key (neither the key nor the decrypted value will be stored).
Sentry::AsymmetricSentry.save_random_rsa_key(private_key_file, public_key_file, :key => 'secret_password')
What that does, is requires you to pass in that same secret password when accesing the method.
class Model < ActiveRecord::Base generates_crypted :password, :mode => :asymmetric end
model.password = '5234523453425' model.save # password is encrypted and saved to crypted_password in the database, # model.password is cleared and becomes a virtual field. model.password('secret_password') => '5234523453425'
The public and private key file names can be set in config/environment.rb
Sentry::AsymmetricSentry.default_public_key_file = "#{RAILS_ROOT}/config/public.key" Sentry::AsymmetricSentry.default_private_key_file = "#{RAILS_ROOT}/config/private.key"
If the private key was encrypted with the Sentry::AsymmetricalSentry#save_random_rsa_key, you must provide that same key when accessing the AR model.
=== symmetrically_encrypts
symmetrically_encrypts :password
This is a shortcut for using a symmetrical algorithm with a secret password to encrypt the field.
class Model < ActiveRecord::Base generates_crypted :password, :mode => :symmetric end
model.password = '5234523453425' model.save # password is encrypted and saved to crypted_password in the database, # model.password is cleared and becomes a virtual field. model.password => '5234523453425'
The secret password can be set in config/environment.rb
Sentry::SymmetricSentry.default_key = "secret_password"