Re: [CODE4LIB] Encrypting jpg, png or PDF
Just one more thing! Of course, it may be difficult to find a user-experience that works well for yourselves and your users. An even more generic approach is to ZIP the files with encryption. This has an added benefit of allowing you to send packets of data, not just individual files. I don't know how many software clients offer this, but 7-zip (7z) for Windows on the desktop makes encryption easy enough: https://www.7-zip.org/ You can: - Add file to archive -> Select "Encryption" -> Provide a password -> Save And like the previous example send the zip and send your password securely another way. Your user may need 7z - my default Windows client doesn't play well with the encrypted zip but maybe others have a better experience? More info: https://hilfe.uni-paderborn.de/Dateiverschluesselung_mit_7-ZIP_unter_Windows_10/en A word of warning about ZIP is that you will likely want ensure your filenames don't contain sensitive information as the file lists within the zip remain visible even when encrypted: https://superuser.com/a/70325 NB. You may also want to look for a password generator to generate randomized passwords you send to anyone to increase security further. All the best, Ross
Re: [CODE4LIB] Encrypting jpg, png or PDF
PDF actually has encryption as part of the standard, so I would recommend searching in the help for whatever PDF tool you’re using, as it’s more likely that whomever you send it to will be able to unencrypt it. They should be prompted for a password when trying to open the file, rather than converting it to an unencrypted form (which might defeat the purpose of encrypting it, unless you only cared about while it’s in transit) It might also be called ‘protect with password’ or ‘security’. There’s also a concept of an ‘PDF envelope’ in which the document is just an encrypted collection of other documents to be protected, but after having sent those to doctors and their not being able to access the individual files, I’d have to recommend instead encrypting each one individually. -Joe Sent from a mobile device with a crappy on screen keyboard and obnoxious "autocorrect" > On Apr 3, 2023, at 9:06 PM, charles meyer wrote: >
Re: [CODE4LIB] Encrypting jpg, png or PDF
Hi Charles, You're likely using in-built features of Word to encrypt those documents; this tends to encrypt the payload inside the Word file format wrapper. With JPG or PNG at least, you're going to need a generic approach to encryption, so using openssl or gpg to encrypt the entire file stream and then transmitting that. Pro-PDF tools may have a similar option to Word. One generic approach that works from Stack Overflow here is to use gpg: https://stackoverflow.com/a/31552829/21120938 * Input/encryption (file to send that needs encryption): gpg --output encrypted.data --symmetric --cipher-algo AES256 image_data.jpg * Output/decryption (file to decode): gpg --output image_data.jpg.unencrypted --decrypt encrypted.data You'll be prompted for a password for encrypting the data which you will then find a secure way to transmit to your user who will be prompted for that when they decrypt the file. I have tried it on Linux and Windows, and the experience is roughly the same. For Windows installers: https://gnupg.org/download/ I find the subject of encryption really fascinating and its something I want to learn more about and form a habit of doing. That being said I don't use it regularly at work right now and so I am interested to hear about other's processes, and from any corrections/improvements to the above. Best, Ross
[CODE4LIB] Encrypting jpg, png or PDF
I'm in a bit of a time crunch, but does anyone now how to encrypt a jpg, png or PDF which contains confidential info? You can encrypt an MS Word file but I’ve never done that with any of the above listed formats. If you are kind enough to post to the list would you also please BCC your post to me? Thank you ever so much. Best, Charles. Charles Meyer Charlotte County Public Library
