This example PHP code helps illustrate how to encryption to protect sensitive data. Using openssl_encrypt and openssl_decrypt cryptographic functions, this example help show the relative ease to implement encryption for your application. The use of encryption is important when you have sensitive information to protect. For example, you may have a web store that collects customer's name, address and other personal information. Having this type of data stolen from a database breach can have serious consequences for you as a vendor, along with your customer.

This example code only serve to illustrate the process of encrypting and decrypting data is not as hard to implement as one may believe. Do you own homework to find the best implementation for your application. This code can be modified to save encrypted data into your MySQL database.

For more detailed informaton on the cryptographic functions used here, please visit https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.openssl-encrypt.php and https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.openssl-decrypt.php.

To use this code, simply copy and paste it into your PHP development environment and configure the variables indicated in the comment lines to your specific environment.

<?php
// This simple example PHP code helps illustrate how to encrypt and decrypt data.
// This uses openssl_encrypt() and openssl_decrypt() for the encryption and decryption process respectively.
// Detailed information on these can be found at https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.openssl-encrypt.php and
// https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.openssl-decrypt.php
//
// The use of encryption is important when you have sensitive information to protect. For example,
// you may have a web store that collects customer's name, address and other personal information. Having this type of
// data stolen from a database breach can have serious consequences.
//
// This example PHP code only serve to illustrate the process of encrypting and decrypting data is not as hard
// to implement as one may believe. Do you own homework to find the best implementation for your application.

// BEGIN: Define some variable(s)
// INSTRUCTION: Specify your own key (password) and algorithm to use
$ENCRYPTION_KEY = 'your-long-complex-password-here!!!';
$ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM = 'AES-256-CBC';
// Other cipher methods can be used. Identified what is available on your server
// by visiting: https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.openssl-get-cipher-methods.php
// END: Define some variable(s)

// BEGIN FUNCTIONS ***************************************************************** 
function EncryptThis($ClearTextData) {
// This function encrypts the data passed into it and returns the cipher data with the IV embedded within it.
// The initialization vector (IV) is appended to the cipher data with 
// the use of two colons serve to delimited between the two.
global $ENCRYPTION_KEY;
global $ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM;
$EncryptionKey = base64_decode($ENCRYPTION_KEY);
$InitializationVector  = openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(openssl_cipher_iv_length($ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM));
$EncryptedText = openssl_encrypt($ClearTextData, $ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM, $EncryptionKey, 0, $InitializationVector);
return base64_encode($EncryptedText . '::' . $InitializationVector);
}

function DecryptThis($CipherData) {
// This function decrypts the cipher data (with the IV embedded within) passed into it 
// and returns the clear text (unencrypted) data.
// The initialization vector (IV) is appended to the cipher data by the EncryptThis function (see above).
// There are two colons that serve to delimited between the cipher data and the IV.
global $ENCRYPTION_KEY;
global $ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM;
$EncryptionKey = base64_decode($ENCRYPTION_KEY);
list($Encrypted_Data, $InitializationVector ) = array_pad(explode('::', base64_decode($CipherData), 2), 2, null);
return openssl_decrypt($Encrypted_Data, $ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM, $EncryptionKey, 0, $InitializationVector);
}
// END FUNCTIONS ***************************************************************** 

// *** No more configurable options below this point for this code to function on most servers ***
if ((isset($_POST["MM_update"])) && ($_POST["MM_update"] == "form_encryption")) {
// Once clear text data is encrypted, it can be saved to a database table.
// This example will only echo the result to the screen.
$Before = $_POST['ClearTextDataInput'];
$After = EncryptThis($_POST['ClearTextDataInput']); 
}
if ((isset($_POST["MM_update"])) && ($_POST["MM_update"] == "form_decryption")) {
// Cipher text can be from your MySQL data or from a user input via a web form.
// This example will use user input cipher text to decrypt.
$Before = $_POST['CipherDataInput'];
$After = DecryptThis($_POST['CipherDataInput']); 
}
?>
<hr/>
<p>This example code uses the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Encryption Key (Password): <span style="font-weight: bold"><?php echo $ENCRYPTION_KEY;?></span> </li>
<li>Cipher Method: <span style="font-weight: bold"><?php echo $ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM;?></span> </li>
</ul>
<hr/>
<form action="" method="post" name="form_encryption">
Type YourPlain Text Data to Encrypt: 
<textarea name="ClearTextDataInput" id="textaClearTextDataInputrea" cols="45" rows="5"></textarea>
<input type="hidden" name="MM_update" value="form_encryption" />
<button type="submit" name="submit" id="Submit" value="Encrypt">Encrypt This</button>
</form>

<form action="" method="post" name="form_decryption">
Or Type Your Cipher Data to Decrypt: 
<textarea name="CipherDataInput" id="CipherDataInput" cols="45" rows="5"></textarea>
<input type="hidden" name="MM_update" value="form_decryption" />
<button type="submit" name="submit" id="Submit" value="Decrypt">Decrypt This</button>
</form>
<hr/>
<div style="width:600px; overflow-wrap: break-word">
The result of your encryption/decryption is shown below:<br />
<p>Before:<br /><strong><?php echo $Before; ?></strong></p>
<p>After:<br /><strong><?php echo $After; ?></strong></p>
</div>

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