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Overview

In some circumstances, you will have some sensitive data or document that you want to keep private and only accessible by allowed parties. In other terms, you want to have an access control list (ACL) to which you allow to see the information.

This is achieved by using data encryption. This section provides all the information needed to understand and integrate with BLOOCK's encryption tooling.

What's encryption?​

Encryption is the process of encoding some information, known as plaintext, by converting it into an unreadable message, known as ciphertext. Only authorized entities will be able to decrypt the ciphertext back to the plaintext.

Most of the encryption algorithms use a secret key or a pseudo-random key. An authorized decrypter can easily decrypt the information with the key received by the encrypter. For other entities not possessing the key, it's computationally infeasible.

Process​

Step 1 is preparation

Depending on the encryption method you choose, you will have to generate a secret key or a key pair. This keys will be used during the encryption and decryption process.

  • If you need a secret key (usually symmetric encryption algorithms), both the encrypter and the decrypter should know the key.
  • If you need a key pair (usually asymmetric encryption algorithms), the encrypter will use the public key to encrypt the information and the decrypter will use the private key to decrypt.

Step 1 is encryption

It's the process of transforming a plaintext information into ciphertext. You can see more information in the Encrypt section.

Step 2 is decryption

It's the process of transforming a ciphertext into plaintext information. You can see more information in the Decrypt section.