Question on encryption

[JReviews]

Hi

I have a plugin that uses the IPS\Text\Encrypt class descrypt and encrypt methods to store client login data. After moving to a new server the data can no longer be decrypted. Is is possible to transfer the encryption key to the new server to allow this to continue working?

Thanks

[DawPi]

If you moved to another host you probably changed your sql database details. So, look:

	/**
	 * Get Key
	 *
	 * @return	void
	 */
	public static function key()
	{
		return \IPS\TEXT_ENCRYPTION_KEY ?: md5( \IPS\Settings::i()->sql_pass . \IPS\Settings::i()->sql_database );
	}

It won't work due to this.

[JReviews]

Thanks!

[CoffeeCake]

Wait... so encrypted data ceases to be accessible if you do something standard like rotate service account passwords? 😵

Why isn't there a constant that's used as an encryption key just for this purpose so that the password can be changed without affecting anything else?

[Stuart Silvester]

Just now, Paul E. said:

Wait... so encrypted data ceases to be accessible if you do something standard like rotate service account passwords? 😵

Why isn't there a constant that's used as an encryption key just for this purpose so that the password can be changed without affecting anything else?

There is a constant ( TEXT_ENCRYPTION_KEY ) that you can set if you change your credentials. If you already have encrypted text stored, you would need to calculate the same MD5 and then save it to constants.php

[JReviews]

That's great news. Since I didn't know that, I actually created a hook to override the key method 😉 

[DawPi]

Why? I showed it already ?: 

[JReviews]

You are right, but it wasn't clear to me straightaway from the code you shared. Should have taken a few more minutes to read it 😉