Encryption Keys
The Encryption Key Workspace
The Public Key Workspace
Encryption is a process that makes information unreadable by anyone except those who have a key that allows them to change the information to its original, readable form. Encryption allows users to securely protect sensitive data that they do not want others to access, such as passwords, social security numbers, and so on.
Use encryption only on those fields that you want to secure. Too much encryption creates a performance impact because it requires additional processing for encrypting or decrypting the data.
If encryption is symmetric, then the same key is used for encryption and decryption, so the encrypted data can be decrypted when needed. However, if the data has been asymmetrically encrypted, then the public key is used for encrypting the data, but the private key is used for decrypting the data. Only the public key is stored in HEAT, which is used solely for encrypting the data, so the user must know the private key to decrypt the data.
Encrypted fields are decrypted and show as readable text in a form, but always show encrypted in a grid.
Viewing Encryption Keys
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1.
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Log into the Service Desk Console as an administrator, and open the Encryption Key workspace. The list of keys appears. |
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2.
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Double-click a key record to view details. |
Viewing Public Keys
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1.
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Log into the Service Desk Console as an administrator, and open the Public Key workspace. The list of keys appears. |
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2.
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Double-click a key record to view details. |
Creating a Symmetric Key
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1.
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Within the Encryption Key workspace, click New Encryption Key. The Encryption Key window appears. |
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2.
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Enter your information into the fields. |
--fields--
| Name |
Enter a unique name that appears to users. |
| Key IV |
Enter the Key IV. |
| Key Value |
Enter the key value. |
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3.
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Click Save  from the toolbar.
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Creating an Asymmetric Key
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Within the Public Key workspace, click New Public Key. The Encryption Public Keys page appears. |
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Enter your information into the fields. |
--fields--
| Name |
A user friendly name. |
| Key Strength |
The strength of the key. |
| Modulus |
The modulus. |
| Exponent |
The exponent. |
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3.
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Click Save from the toolbar.
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Testing the Symmetric and Asymmetric Keys
To test the keys, you first need to create a business object, then add a symmetrically encrypted field and an asymmetrically encrypted field. After saving the business object, make it available to the user role in the client application. Open the workspace and test the fields.
Creating the Symmetrically Encrypted Field
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Click Object Fields and then click Add New. |
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Click SymmetricallyEncryptedString. |
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Enter information into the fields. |
--fields--
| Property |
The property value. |
| Maximum Length |
A number for the maximum string length. |
| Crypt Key |
The key that you created in the Encryption Key workspace. |
| Encryption Algorithm |
The encryption algorithm. Choose from the drop-down list: DES, RC2, Rinjdael, and TripleDES. |
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4.
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Click Save from the toolbar.
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Creating the Asymmetrically Encrypted Field
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2.
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Click AsymmetricallyEncryptedString. |
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3.
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Enter a property value. |
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Click Public Crypt Key. |
In the Set Expression for Encryption Public Key window, enter an expression.
- To define the public key for the whole AssymetricallyEncrptedString field, enter the name of the key.
- Open the Public Key workspace and select the record to view the Name field, if necessary.
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5.
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Click Save from the toolbar.
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Testing the Encryption Fields
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From the Service Desk Console, open the workspace for the business object that you created. |
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2.
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Click the new business object to open a new record. |
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Enter a value in the field that you asymmetrically encrypted. The value you entered appears encrypted. |