Encryption.

[Glen Chambers]

Hello there

I am a long standing user of Bento and was sad to hear that it wasn’t going to be supportive any longer…… However in came TapForms — Pure class! And the ability to import Bento templates just worked, albeit with a few problems but **VERY** quickly resolved but getting excellent support from Brendan! Literally a reply with in minutes………

Just one question… Encryption.

I have TP installed on an iMac, MBP and iPhone — I 1st installed it (via the Mac App Store) to the iMac, imported my Bento Database and then encrypted the form/database. Then activated iCloud and synced.

I then went to my MBP, installed TF and setup sync — It worked and pulled down the form/database. BUT I could read the records…. I then encrypted this on the MBP.

Isn’t the actual file that’s synced encrypted? I also synod with the iPhone and again could read the files….. then I setup the encryption…

Weird? Is this how it works?

Regards
G.

[Brendan]

Hi Glen,

Yes, this is how it works. The sync files uploaded to iCloud ARE encrypted before being uploaded. They’re just not encrypted using the key you entered with the Set Encryption Key function. They’re encrypted with a very large randomly generated string. I do intend on adding in your custom key to a future update.

Thanks!

Brendan

[David Foster]

I am trying to fathom exactly how encryption is working here, particularly after reading a review posted to the Mac App Store. Someone there said they created a database on the Mac, encrypted it, and then could see all the records on their iOS device — without entering a password. This sounds like a serious issue, if true.I own the iOS version, but I am reluctant to consider dropping $30 on the Mac version unless encryption is solid.

[Brendan]

Hi David,

Please see Apple’s policy on iCloud security and encryption:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4865?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Data is encrypted during transmission to Apple’s servers. Data is also encrypted while stored on their servers.

Tap Forms encrypts all of the sync files before it transmits the data to iCloud. So it’s doubly encrypted.

The issue is that Tap Forms knows how to de-crypt the sync files that it generates. When you sync with another device, Tap Forms opens up the encrypted sync files and reads the contents and stores the data in its own local copy of the database. So if you haven’t encrypted the local copy of the database yet, then your data will be decrypted.

I intend to add an additional user supplied key into the key that’s used to encrypt the data before it’s uploaded to iCloud.

But just to be clear, the encryption in Tap Forms is only at the database level. Photos, File Attachments, and any files that aren’t stored in the database file itself are not encrypted. So for example, if you email your records to someone, those records must be decrypted in order to create an email. The file that’s generated is stored in the Files area and added as an attachment to the email. With iCloud enabled, those files are only encrypted during transmission to Apple’s iCloud servers and when stored on Apple’s iCloud servers. Tap Forms does not doubly encrypt external files.

I hope that clears things up a bit.

Thanks,

Brendan

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