symmetric-encryption

• http://github.com/ClarityServices/symmetric-encryption

Introduction

Any project that wants to meet PCI compliance has to ensure that the data is encrypted whilst in flight and at rest. Amongst many other other requirements all passwords in configuration files have to be encrypted

This Gem helps achieve compliance by supporting encryption of data in a simple and consistent way

Security

Many solutions that encrypt data require the encryption keys to be stored in the applications source code or leave it up to the developer to secure the keys on the application servers. symmetric-encryption takes care of securing the symmetric encryption keys.

The following steps are used to secure the symmetric encryption keys using symmetric-encryption:

• Symmetric Encryption keys are stored in files that are not part of the application, its source code, or even stored in its source control system. These files can be created, managed and further secured by System Administrators. This prevents developers having or needing to have access to the symmetric encryption keys
• The Operating System security features limit access to the Symmetric Encryption key files to System Administrators and the userid under which the Rails application runs.
• The files in which the Symmetric Encryption keys are stored are futher encrypted using RSA 2048 bit encryption

In order for anyone to decrypt the data being encrypted in the database, they would need access to ALL of the following:

• A copy of the files containing the Symmetric Encryption Keys which are secured by the Operating System
• The application source code containing the RSA private key to decrypt the above files
• The userid and password for the database to copy the encrypted data itself, or an unsecured copy or export of the database contents

Features

• Encryption of passwords in configuration files
• Encryption of ActiveRecord model attributes by prefixing attributes / column names with encrypted_
• Externalization of symmetric encryption keys so that they are not in the source code, or the source code control system
• Drop in replacement for attr_encrypted. Just remove the attr_encrypted gem
• Compatible with the default Encryption algorithm in attr_encrypted
• More efficient replacement for attr_encrypted since only ActiveRecord Models are extended with encrypted_ behavior, rather than every object in the system
• Custom validator for ActiveRecord Models
• Stream based encryption and decryption so that large files can be read or written with encryption
• Stream based encryption and decryption also supports compression and decompression on the fly

Examples

Encryption Example

SymmetricEncryption.encrypt "Sensitive data"

Decryption Example

SymmetricEncryption.decrypt "JqLJOi6dNjWI9kX9lSL1XQ==\n"

Validation Example

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  validates :encrypted_ssn, :symmetric_encryption => true
end

m = MyModel.new
m.valid?
#  => false
m.encrypted_ssn = SymmetricEncryption.encrypt('123456789')
m.valid?
#  => true

Encrypting Passwords in configuration files

Passwords can be encrypted in any YAML configuration file.

For example config/database.yml

production:
  adapter:  mysql
  host:     db1w
  database: myapp_production
  username: admin
  password: <%= SymmetricEncryption.try_decrypt "JqLJOi6dNjWI9kX9lSL1XQ==\n" %>

Note: Use SymmetricEncryption.try_decrypt method which will return nil if it fails to decrypt the value, which is essential when the encryption keys differ between environments

Note: In order for the above technique to work in other YAML configuration files the YAML file must be processed using ERB prior to passing to YAML. For example

config_file = Rails.root.join('config', 'redis.yml')
raise "redis config not found. Create a config file at: config/redis.yml" unless config_file.file?

cfg = YAML.load(ERB.new(File.new(config_file).read).result)[Rails.env]
raise("Environment #{Rails.env} not defined in redis.yml") unless cfg

Large File Encryption

Example: Read and decrypt a line at a time from a file

SymmetricEncryption::Reader.open('encrypted_file') do |file|
  file.each_line do |line|
    puts line
  end
end

Example: Encrypt and write data to a file

SymmetricEncryption::Writer.open('encrypted_file') do |file|
  file.write "Hello World\n"
  file.write "Keep this secret"
end

Example: Compress, Encrypt and write data to a file

SymmetricEncryption::Writer.open('encrypted_compressed.zip', :compress => true) do |file|
  file.write "Hello World\n"
  file.write "Compress this\n"
  file.write "Keep this safe and secure\n"
end

Generating encrypted passwords

The following rake task can be used to generate encrypted passwords for the specified environment

Note: Passwords must be encrypted in the environment in which they will be used. Since each environment should have its own symmetric encryption keys

Install

gem install symmetric-encryption

Configuration

Generating the RSA Private key

To protect the files holding the Symmetric Encryption keys, symmetric-encryption uses 2048 bit RSA encryption.

Generate the RSA Private key as follows

openssl genrsa 2048

Paste the output into the configuration created below

Creating the configuration file

Create a configuration file in config/symmetric-encryption.yml per the following example:

#
# Symmetric Encryption for Ruby
#
---
# For the development and test environments the test symmetric encryption keys
# can be placed directly in the source code.
# And therefore no RSA private key is required
development: &development_defaults
  key: 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF
  iv: 1234567890ABCDEF
  cipher: aes-128-cbc

test:
  <<: *development_defaults

production:
  # Since the key to encrypt and decrypt with must NOT be stored along with the
  # source code, we only hold a RSA key that is used to unlock the file
  # containing the actual symmetric encryption key
  #
  # Sample RSA Key, DO NOT use this RSA key, generate a new one using
  #    openssl genrsa 2048
  private_rsa_key: |
    -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    MIIEpAIBAAKCAQEAxIL9H/jYUGpA38v6PowRSRJEo3aNVXULNM/QNRpx2DTf++KH
    6DcuFTFcNSSSxG9n4y7tKi755be8N0uwCCuOzvXqfWmXYjbLwK3Ib2vm0btpHyvA
    qxgqeJOOCxKdW/cUFLWn0tACUcEjVCNfWEGaFyvkOUuR7Ub9KfhbW9cZO3BxZMUf
    IPGlHl/gWyf484sXygd+S7cpDTRRzo9RjG74DwfE0MFGf9a1fTkxnSgeOJ6asTOy
    fp9tEToUlbglKaYGpOGHYQ9TV5ZsyJ9jRUyb4SP5wK2eK6dHTxTcHvT03kD90Hv4
    WeKIXv3WOjkwNEyMdpnJJfSDb5oquQvCNi7ZSQIDAQABAoIBAQCbzR7TUoBugU+e
    ICLvpC2wOYOh9kRoFLwlyv3QnH7WZFWRZzFJszYeJ1xr5etXQtyjCnmOkGAg+WOI
    k8GlOKOpAuA/PpB/leJFiYL4lBwU/PmDdTT0cdx6bMKZlNCeMW8CXGQKiFDOcMqJ
    0uGtH5YD+RChPIEeFsJxnC8SyZ9/t2ra7XnMGiCZvRXIUDSEIIsRx/mOymJ7bL+h
    Lbp46IfXf6ZuIzwzoIk0JReV/r+wdmkAVDkrrMkCmVS4/X1wN/Tiik9/yvbsh/CL
    ztC55eSIEjATkWxnXfPASZN6oUfQPEveGH3HzNjdncjH/Ho8FaNMIAfFpBhhLPi9
    nG5sbH+BAoGBAOdoUyVoAA/QUa3/FkQaa7Ajjehe5MR5k6VtaGtcxrLiBjrNR7x+
    nqlZlGvWDMiCz49dgj+G1Qk1bbYrZLRX/Hjeqy5dZOGLMfgf9eKUmS1rDwAzBMcj
    M9jnnJEBx8HIlNzaR6wzp3GMd0rrccs660A8URvzkgo9qNbvMLq9vyUtAoGBANll
    SY1Iv9uaIz8klTXU9YzYtsfUmgXzw7K8StPdbEbo8F1J3JPJB4D7QHF0ObIaSWuf
    suZqLsvWlYGuJeyX2ntlBN82ORfvUdOrdrbDlmPyj4PfFVl0AK3U3Ai374DNrjKR
    hF6YFm4TLDaJhUjeV5C43kbE1N2FAMS9LYtPJ44NAoGAFDGHZ/E+aCLerddfwwun
    MBS6MnftcLPHTZ1RimTrNfsBXipBw1ItWEvn5s0kCm9X24PmdNK4TnhqHYaF4DL5
    ZjbQK1idEA2Mi8GGPIKJJ2x7P6I0HYiV4qy7fe/w1ZlCXE90B7PuPbtrQY9wO7Ll
    ipJ45X6I1PnyfOcckn8yafUCgYACtPAlgjJhWZn2v03cTbqA9nHQKyV/zXkyUIXd
    /XPLrjrP7ouAi5A8WuSChR/yx8ECRgrEM65Be3qBEtoGCB4AS1G0NcigM6qhKBFi
    VS0aMXr3+V8argcUIwJaWW/x+p2go48yXlJpLHPweeXe8mXEt4iM+QZte6p2yKQ4
    h9PGQQKBgQCqSydmXBnXGIVTp2sH/2GnpxLYnDBpcJE0tM8bJ42HEQQgRThIChsn
    PnGA91G9MVikYapgI0VYBHQOTsz8rTIUzsKwXG+TIaK+W84nxH5y6jUkjqwxZmAz
    r1URaMAun2PfAB4g2N/kEZTExgeOGqXjFhvvjdzl97ux2cTyZhaTXg==
    -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

  # List Symmetric Key files in the order of current / latest first
  ciphers:
    -
      # Filename containing Symmetric Encryption Key encrypted using the
      # RSA public key derived from the private key above
      key_filename: /etc/rails/.rails.key
      iv_filename: /etc/rails/.rails.iv

      # Encryption cipher
      #   Recommended values:
      #      aes-256-cbc
      #         256 AES CBC Algorithm. Very strong
      #         Ruby 1.8.7 MRI Approximately 100,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      #         JRuby 1.6.7 with Ruby 1.8.7 Approximately 22,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      #      aes-128-cbc
      #         128 AES CBC Algorithm. Less strong.
      #         Ruby 1.8.7 MRI Approximately 100,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      #         JRuby 1.6.7 with Ruby 1.8.7 Approximately 22,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      cipher: aes-256-cbc

This configuration file should be checked into the source code control system. It does Not include the Symmetric Encryption keys. They will be generated in the next step.

Generating and securing the Symmetric Encryption keys

The symmetric encryption key consists of the key itself and an optional initialization vector.

To generate the keys run the following Rake task in each environment:

RAILS_ENV=production rake symmetric_encryption:generate_symmetric_keys

Replace 'production' as necessary for each environment.

Make sure that the current user has read and write access to the folder listed in the configuration option symmetric_key_filename above.

Once the Symmetric Encryption keys have been generated, secure them further by making the files read-only to the Rails user and not readable by any other user

chmod ...

When running multiple Rails servers in a particular environment copy the same key files to every server in that environment. I.e. All Rails servers in each environment must run the same encryption keys.

Note: The generate step above must only be run once in each environment

Using in non-Rails environments

symmetric-encryption can also be used in non-Rails environment. At application startup, run the code below to initialize symmetric-encryption prior to attempting to encrypt or decrypt any data

require 'symmetric-encryption'
SymmetricEncryption.load!('config/symmetric-encryption.yml', 'production')

Parameters:

• Filename of the configuration file created above
• Name of the environment to load the configuration for

To manually generate the symmetric encryption keys, run the code below

require 'symmetric-encryption'
SymmetricEncryption.generate_symmetric_key_files('config/symmetric-encryption.yml', 'production')

Parameters:

• Filename of the configuration file created above
• Name of the environment to load the configuration for

Supporting Multiple Encryption Keys

According to the PCI Compliance documentation: "Cryptographic keys must be changed on an annual basis."

During the transition period of moving from one encryption key to another symmetric-encryption supports multiple Symmetric Encryption keys. If decryption with the current key fails, any previous keys will also be tried automatically.

By default the latest key is used for encrypting data. Another key can be specified for encryption so that old data can be looked in queries, etc.

Since just the Symmetric Encryption keys are being changed, we can still continue to use the same RSA Private key for gaining access to the Symmetric Encryption Keys

Configuring multiple Symmetric Encryption keys

Create a configuration file in config/symmetric-encryption.yml per the following example:

#
# Symmetric Encryption for Ruby
#
---
# For the development and test environments the test symmetric encryption keys
# can be placed directly in the source code.
# And therefore no RSA private key is required
development: &development_defaults
  key: 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF
  iv: 1234567890ABCDEF
  cipher: aes-128-cbc

test:
  <<: *development_defaults

production:
  # Since the key to encrypt and decrypt with must NOT be stored along with the
  # source code, we only hold a RSA key that is used to unlock the file
  # containing the actual symmetric encryption key
  #
  # Sample RSA Key, DO NOT use this RSA key, generate a new one using
  #    openssl genrsa 2048
  private_rsa_key: |
    -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    MIIEpAIBAAKCAQEAxIL9H/jYUGpA38v6PowRSRJEo3aNVXULNM/QNRpx2DTf++KH
    6DcuFTFcNSSSxG9n4y7tKi755be8N0uwCCuOzvXqfWmXYjbLwK3Ib2vm0btpHyvA
    qxgqeJOOCxKdW/cUFLWn0tACUcEjVCNfWEGaFyvkOUuR7Ub9KfhbW9cZO3BxZMUf
    IPGlHl/gWyf484sXygd+S7cpDTRRzo9RjG74DwfE0MFGf9a1fTkxnSgeOJ6asTOy
    fp9tEToUlbglKaYGpOGHYQ9TV5ZsyJ9jRUyb4SP5wK2eK6dHTxTcHvT03kD90Hv4
    WeKIXv3WOjkwNEyMdpnJJfSDb5oquQvCNi7ZSQIDAQABAoIBAQCbzR7TUoBugU+e
    ICLvpC2wOYOh9kRoFLwlyv3QnH7WZFWRZzFJszYeJ1xr5etXQtyjCnmOkGAg+WOI
    k8GlOKOpAuA/PpB/leJFiYL4lBwU/PmDdTT0cdx6bMKZlNCeMW8CXGQKiFDOcMqJ
    0uGtH5YD+RChPIEeFsJxnC8SyZ9/t2ra7XnMGiCZvRXIUDSEIIsRx/mOymJ7bL+h
    Lbp46IfXf6ZuIzwzoIk0JReV/r+wdmkAVDkrrMkCmVS4/X1wN/Tiik9/yvbsh/CL
    ztC55eSIEjATkWxnXfPASZN6oUfQPEveGH3HzNjdncjH/Ho8FaNMIAfFpBhhLPi9
    nG5sbH+BAoGBAOdoUyVoAA/QUa3/FkQaa7Ajjehe5MR5k6VtaGtcxrLiBjrNR7x+
    nqlZlGvWDMiCz49dgj+G1Qk1bbYrZLRX/Hjeqy5dZOGLMfgf9eKUmS1rDwAzBMcj
    M9jnnJEBx8HIlNzaR6wzp3GMd0rrccs660A8URvzkgo9qNbvMLq9vyUtAoGBANll
    SY1Iv9uaIz8klTXU9YzYtsfUmgXzw7K8StPdbEbo8F1J3JPJB4D7QHF0ObIaSWuf
    suZqLsvWlYGuJeyX2ntlBN82ORfvUdOrdrbDlmPyj4PfFVl0AK3U3Ai374DNrjKR
    hF6YFm4TLDaJhUjeV5C43kbE1N2FAMS9LYtPJ44NAoGAFDGHZ/E+aCLerddfwwun
    MBS6MnftcLPHTZ1RimTrNfsBXipBw1ItWEvn5s0kCm9X24PmdNK4TnhqHYaF4DL5
    ZjbQK1idEA2Mi8GGPIKJJ2x7P6I0HYiV4qy7fe/w1ZlCXE90B7PuPbtrQY9wO7Ll
    ipJ45X6I1PnyfOcckn8yafUCgYACtPAlgjJhWZn2v03cTbqA9nHQKyV/zXkyUIXd
    /XPLrjrP7ouAi5A8WuSChR/yx8ECRgrEM65Be3qBEtoGCB4AS1G0NcigM6qhKBFi
    VS0aMXr3+V8argcUIwJaWW/x+p2go48yXlJpLHPweeXe8mXEt4iM+QZte6p2yKQ4
    h9PGQQKBgQCqSydmXBnXGIVTp2sH/2GnpxLYnDBpcJE0tM8bJ42HEQQgRThIChsn
    PnGA91G9MVikYapgI0VYBHQOTsz8rTIUzsKwXG+TIaK+W84nxH5y6jUkjqwxZmAz
    r1URaMAun2PfAB4g2N/kEZTExgeOGqXjFhvvjdzl97ux2cTyZhaTXg==
    -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

  # List Symmetric Key files in the order of current / latest first
  ciphers:
    -
      # Filename containing Symmetric Encryption Key encrypted using the
      # RSA public key derived from the private key above
      key_filename: /etc/rails/.rails.key
      iv_filename: /etc/rails/.rails.iv

      # Encryption cipher
      #   Recommended values:
      #      aes-256-cbc
      #         256 AES CBC Algorithm. Very strong
      #         Ruby 1.8.7 MRI Approximately 100,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      #         JRuby 1.6.7 with Ruby 1.8.7 Approximately 22,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      #      aes-128-cbc
      #         128 AES CBC Algorithm. Less strong.
      #         Ruby 1.8.7 MRI Approximately 100,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      #         JRuby 1.6.7 with Ruby 1.8.7 Approximately 22,000 encryptions or decryptions per second
      cipher: aes-256-cbc

    -
      # OPTIONAL:
      #
      # Any previous Symmetric Encryption Keys
      #
      # Only used when old data still exists that requires old decryption keys
      # to be used
      key_filename: /etc/rails/.rails_old.key
      iv_filename: /etc/rails/.rails_old.iv
      cipher:   aes-256-cbc

Possible Future Enhancements

Submit an issue ticket to request any of the following features:

• Ability to entirely disable encryption for a specific environment. SymmetricEncryption.encrypt() would return the supplied data without encrypting it and SymmetricEncryption.decrypt() would return the supplied data without decrypting it

• Support for automatically compressing data prior to encrypting it when the data exceeds some predefined size. And automatically decompressing the data during decryption

• Make attr_encrypted auto-detect the encrypted column type and Base64 encode when type is CHAR and store as binary when type is BINARY or BLOB

• Create rake task / generator to generate a sample configuration file with a new RSA Private key already in it

• Ability to change SymmetricEncryption configuration options from custom Rails initializers, rather than having everything in the config file. For example config.symmetric_encryption.cipher = 'aes-128-cbc'

Meta

• Code: git clone git://github.com/ClarityServices/symmetric-encryption.git
• Home: https://github.com/ClarityServices/symmetric-encryption
• Issues: http://github.com/ClarityServices/symmetric-encryption/issues
• Gems: http://rubygems.org/gems/symmetric-encryption

This project uses Semantic Versioning.

Authors

Reid Morrison :: reidmo@gmail.com :: @reidmorrison

License

Copyright 2012 Clarity Services, Inc.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Compliance

Although this library has assisted Clarity in meeting PCI Compliance it in no way guarantees that PCI Compliance will be met by anyone using this library for encryption purposes.