Author: Shivakant Sahu
Creating secured property files is an everyday task for a Mulesoft professional. This task demands encrypting the yaml or properties file by using the commands provided by Mulesoft. This is generally done manually and is highly prone to errors during copying and pasting encrypted or decrypted values.
In this article we will see how we can secure the properties with the help of CypherZen, hasslefree.
Why secure properties:
Most of the time, we need to store sensitive data like user ID, password, and other credentials in a mule project. We can store the plain text credentials in the project code repository, but this would allow everybody to access the repository to use these credentials.
We need to encrypt the data inside any property files to restrict unauthorised access and to protect the data.
What is CypherZen?
CypherZen is a Java-based cross-platform supported intuitive UI designed to secure the properties with zero probability of errors. CypherZen is a better alternative approach to replacing the traditional cmd approach to secure properties efficiently. It is less prone to manual errors also.
CMD(Traditional Approach) vs CypherZen
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â CMD | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â CypherZen |
| Prone to errors while writing command, passing parameters, and copying keys and output | Possibility of such errors is negligible |
| Every time a command is used to secure the properties for both encryption and decryption | Only parameters need to be passed |
| The user uses secure properties jar provided by MuleSoft to secure the properties | Same jar is used in the backend. Security is not compromised |
| Using CMD can be time taking and complex process for new users | Using Cypher Zen is effortless even for new users |
CypherZen in action:
User only has to pass the parameters to secure the properties as shown below:
- Start the application and select the operation type as per the requirement
String
File Values
Complete File
2. Select the Action from dropdown
Encrypt
Decrypt
3. Select the Algorithm as per the requirement.
4. Select Mode of Algorithm from drop down box as per the requirement.
5. Enter the key according to the algorithm.
6. Enter the value of the String that needs to be encrypted or decrypted. It will give the encrypted value and decrypted value accordingly as a result. Copy the value and paste it into the properties file.
7. For file operation, select the file operation and browse the file which needs to be encrypted. Copy the path as given below and you will get an encrypted file as a result.