Enabling Field Level Encryption

Follow these steps to enable encryption for a particular data field:

1. Open or create a view of the Security Keys service.
   • The Security Keys service is located within the Aptify Framework Administration application.
   • You must have the appropriate permissions to access this service.
   • The service includes one default key, the Generic Entity Encryption Key. By default, the sa user and members of the Users, Accounting, and Administrators group have access to this key..
      
2. Do one of the following:
   • Right-click the Security Keys entity and select New Security Key Record from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 3.
   • Use the default Generic Entity security key. Open the security record and proceed to Step 4.
      
3. Configure the Security Key's General tab.
4. Enter a name for the key in the Name field.
5. Enter an optional description.

6. Enter between 1 and 50 alphanumeric characters in the Key Value field. Using a large number of characters will make it more difficult for an unauthorized individual to decrypt the data.

   By default, only the sa user has the ability to delete a security key. 

   
    

7. Configure the User and/or Group permissions.
   • Click the Group Permissions tab and add Groups, as necessary. The members of the selected Groups can encrypt and decrypt fields that use this key. You should add any user group whose members will need to enter or read values in the encrypted field.
   • Click the User Permissions tab and add Users, as necessary. Each selected user can encrypt and decrypt fields that use this key.
   • Note that a Security Key record will not show up in a user's view of the Security Keys service unless the user has User Permissions or Group Permissions for that specified key. In other words, be sure to add an Administrator group on the Group Permissions tab or the administrative user on the User Permissions tab if you plan to manage the security keys from an administrator account other than the sa user.
      
8. Save and close the record.
   • Note that you cannot change the Key Value for a Security Key once the key has been saved. If you want to change the key that encrypts a field, see Changing Security Keys for Field Level Encryption for details.
      
9. Configure the Encryption Block Size attribute for the entity that you want to encrypt, if necessary.
   • The Encryption Block Size attribute determines how many records are processed in each block during the encryption process for the specified entity.
   • By default, the Block Size is 1000 records.
   • See Configuring the Encryption Block Size Attribute for details and configuration instructions.
      
10. Within the Entities service, open the entity that contains the field you want to encrypt.
    • The Entities service is located within the Aptify Framework Administration application.
    • For example, if you want to encrypt the Credit Card Acct # field on the Orders form, open the Orders entity.
       
11. Under the Fields tab, double-click the field that you want to encrypt to open the Fields record.
12. Click the Security tab.
13. Select the Encrypt Data option.
14. Enter the key you want to use for encryption in the Security Key field.
    • Click the blue link to create a new key. See Steps 3-5, above, for more information on creating a key.
      
       
15. Click the General tab and increase the SQL Field Size, if necessary.
    • The encryption process expands data. Therefore, you may need to increase the SQL Data Size within the entity to accommodate the encrypted data. See Important Notes Concerning Field Level Encryption for more information.
       
16. Click OK to save changes and close the Fields record.
17. Save and close the entity record.