Digital Workshop

Hi All,

Well, this topic has certainly grown. And branched in a few directions.

Though not fully presented initially, my "problem" was this:
1. How to protect content, sections of text, that I would have in a SQLite DB and display in Opus
2. Additionally certain Tables in that DB would hold some "Rules" and several "Control variables" I use in Opus and want to 'hide'.
3. The DB would have names/paths for a number of External Files (some files Opus itself could encrypt/decrypt of course, some not).
4. User Input will be captured and stored in DB. That should be Encrypted.

The discussions here expanded this for me:
5. Protect program files, DLLs, and other things related to User Registration/Pub distribution.

Possible added factors:
6. Maintainability over time (possible Pub updates, maybe User Input goes to a website, etc)
7. Maybe the Opus .ILM files and the SQLite DB reside on a USB Drive

What I've learned so far from responses here and from some trial and error, is the following:
-- If I would just put all the content in Opus in the 1st place, I would not need encryption.
-- my DB is 'exposed' since SQLite has no password. The DB could be modified.
-- there are several solutions now for Encrypting/decrypting data in the DB. 1Crypt.DLL or Paul's AES implementation in OpusScript. (plus others).
-- from my testing, it's not wise to try to encrypt all the Columns for any table. So I'll selectively identify the few Fields that need it.
-- must learn more about 'escape chars' and what to look for there.
-- Encrypting/Decrypting in Opus is EASY to implement.... thanks to the cumulative contributions -- help and examples.
-- 'Deployment' is another set of 'Todo' lists.

I think that's a decent summary of my project. I'll post other specifics below.

Cheers.

Stephen and Mack,
thanks for the tips on Enigma.




Definitely something I need to look into. If I understand correctly, 'Enigma Protector' has much more applicability to How the pub is deployed and protecting program files and components.

Vlad even has a page on his web dedicated to OpusPro and some downloads:
http://www.enigmaprotector.com/en/tutor ... rial1.html


I think I'm going to need a Blueprint, a Flowchart, a Pie(chart) and a Pint. to figure out deployment and Pub lifecycle support.

Mack/Paul... AES 128bit


Good 'heads-up' on JS/Escape chars. I've started to study this a bit.

In my pub plan, I will display mostly a 1-page section of text at a time... up to say 4-pages of text w/ a scrollbar. So I think those will be okay performance wise. I'll test this week.

I found a few 'techy' resources related to AES. Paul's code makes more sense now.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc164055.aspx
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/ ... ps-197.pdf


(no I did not read all)

Sorry for little offtop...

Hi, Stephen.

Thank you for advise to try Enigma Protector. The only thing I need to send variable from EP to Opus if pub was registred. I wrote a letter to Vladimir. He said that this is possible and advised to insert this code in my pub:



I try it, but it dont work. Maybe because i cant find file enigma_api.dll, only enigma_ide.dll which i put into pub directory.

I did change the code a little, but it does not work in both cases.



Encourage, in what could be a problem?
Thanks in advance

Hi Volgar,

Unfortunately, this is not a use that I made of EnigmaProtector, so I don't know how to correctly create this type of function.

I used Enigma as the registration interface, eliminating the need for Opus to do this. If the Enigma-protected pub is not properly registered and has no key, then the pub will not open, as I recall.

You may need to experiment more with using Enigma, learning about its many features. Some of these can be a substitute for actions (evaluation, registration, password protection, etc. ) that you use in Opus.

Wish I could help, but, I'm afraid that Vladimir will need to be your source for solutions. I'm still a novice at figuring out Enigma myself.

Kind Regards,

Thanks all... Paul, Mack, Stephen

Several Encryption/Decryption approaches are viable. Here is some of what I found.

OneCrypt.DLL
-- If I choose to use OneCrypt I guess I will need to use both an Installer package and Enigma Protector.
-- it is generally fast, and works well
-- I did crash Opus program when previewing a pub. OneCrypt seemed to be 'okay' up to about 2-1/2 pages of text, but started acting-up over that amount... and crashed entirely at 5 pages (about 12000 chars). This may not be OneCrypt problem... could be Opus, could be my machine/memory.

AES 128bit implemented in OpusScript
-- good to have / know it's possible
-- it is quite slow

ASCII Shifting
-- actually works quite well, and it may be sufficient protection for some things
-- in my testing, it seems to encrypt about 2,000 chars/sec and decrypt at just about half that rate.
-- I tested encrypting up to 9 pages, 23,000 characters, at a time (just within Opus page). Takes a little waiting, but seems reliable.
-- I did remove escape characters


Initially I did do some testing writing/reading ciphertext to DB. Worked okay then. Now I've got to build functions and code to make the Encrypt/Decrypt seemless with the DB operations.

Thanks again for all the tips.

Hi Larry,

Regarding 1Crypt.dll: EnigmaProtector can package and hide the dll.

I've never experienced any crashes. 1Crypt has actually been "lightening fast" but then again, I've never used it for extra-large amounts of data.

You may also want to contact Vladimir, Enigma's developer, since he can create custom encryption solutions within Enigma.

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

stephen


Does 'package' mean it will handle the User's Install AND register the DLL? If is also an 'installer', does it handle clean Uninstall? Will OpusPro's Update feature work when using Enigma?




Correct me if I am wrong. Enigma is for post-Publishing. I will need to access Encrypt and Decrypt during the process of developing content. Some content will be loaded into the DB directly, plain text. Later I will batch process it to store it in the DB encrypted. Not sure Enigma fits into that workflow.

Hi Larry,

I think I misunderstood. No, Enigma is not an installer. So if I've created an Enigma-Protected Opus pub, I would still need to use an msi or exe installer to package the pub and install it to the user's program or other directory, drop a short-cut onto the desktop, etc. And, I do.

I believe that the protected app, once installed, would run with its hidden, embedded DLL's and other files, without any further registration.

However, if you need a win installer or other set-up tool, this is not one.

You could also check with Vladimir, Enigma's developer, for a more complete explanation about embedded files.

Kind Regards,

Hi Paul, would it be possible to post this publication again? I can't see the download being available?


Thanks.

Paul, I cannot find the attached pub, it doesn't seem to be on the forum anymore. Would it be possible for you to re-post?

Thanks, LMC.

Not sure if this is the original publication but it's the AES script.

Mack

Thank you Mack. Perfect.