security

[Wilson]

Friends,

I am facing security issues with VFP database and free tables. All the
tables can be viewed by anyone having access to that folder.

what are the security methods available for VFP database and free tables

thanks in advance

Wilson

[Mike Gagnon]

You could store the data on a password protected folder (or drive)
Or use encryption in the tables.

Post by Wilson
Friends,
I am facing security issues with VFP database and free tables. All the
tables can be viewed by anyone having access to that folder.
what are the security methods available for VFP database and free tables
thanks in advance
Wilson

[Josh Assing]

check out www.netlib.com

Post by Wilson
Friends,
I am facing security issues with VFP database and free tables. All the
tables can be viewed by anyone having access to that folder.
what are the security methods available for VFP database and free tables
thanks in advance
Wilson

---
Remove x's to send.

[Rick Bean]

Wilson,
If you want to encrypt the whole table, then one of the easiest and most secure
is Cryptor IV by Xitech (http://www.xitech-europe.co.uk/ ), but it is a
commercial product. They have a demo version to show how easy it is to
implement, and in my testing, there was very little overhead introduced on all
but the largest tables. I've used different versions in custom apps under both
FPW and VFP.

NetLib also has Encryptionizer (http://www.netlib.com), but I've never used it.

One freeware solution to encryption is the CryptPak by Milan Kosina
(http://milan.jikos.cz/). Another is CIPHER50.FLL based on work by Tom Rettig
and available at the UT (http://www.universalthread.com/ ) in the Download area.

VFP 7.0 -> 9.0 have a Crypto API component in the Foundation Classes that uses
the MS API encryption.

And of course, if you are only encrypting fields you can always "roll your
own" - high powered encryption schemes are severely crippled when you use short
data strings, so your algorithm will be just as "secure".

VFP 7.0 -> 9.0 also provide database events that make it easy to check when
files are opened, so you could implement a security scheme. However, if someone
choses to use a non-VFP way to open the tables (e.g. a Hex File viewer), then
this wouldn't be very effective.

Rick

Post by Wilson
Friends,
I am facing security issues with VFP database and free tables. All the tables
can be viewed by anyone having access to that folder.
what are the security methods available for VFP database and free tables
thanks in advance
Wilson

[Lee Mitchell]

Hi Wilson:

Visual FoxPro does not offer any mechanism to prevent a user from opening
and reading its table files from another application that can read .DBF
files. In Visual FoxPro 7.0, we added DBC events that allow you to prompt
a user to enter a password before they can open a database container.
However, if some one had a copy of VFP they could always issue a FREE
TABLES command to remove the table from a database container and then view
the table data. Therefore, the DBC events offer no real production against
an individual with even a moderate knowledge of VFP.

Since VFP offers no capability to secure tables, you need to look at other
options. First, if the tables are on an NTSF partition, you may be able to
use group policies and NTFS properties to limit who can access the folder
containing the tables. Second, you could move the data to a product like
SQL Server, which offers much better security than VFP. Finally, you might
want to look at using a third-party product, such as Cryptor, to encrypt
the data.

For more information on Cryptor and other third-party products, see
www.hallogram.com <http://www.hallogram.com>.

I hope this helps.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Sincerely,
Microsoft FoxPro Technical Support
Lee Mitchell

*-- VFP9 HAS ARRIVED!! --*
Read about all the new features of VFP9 here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/

*--Purchase VFP 9.0 here:
http://www.microsoft.com/PRODUCTS/info/product.aspx?view=22&pcid=54787e64-52
69-4500-8bf2-3f06689f4ab3&type=ovr

Keep an eye on the product lifecycle for Visual FoxPro here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=fh;[ln];lifeprodv
- VFP5 Mainstream Support retired June 30th, 2003
- VFP6 Mainstream Support retired Sept. 30th, 2003

Post by Wilson
Friends,
I am facing security issues with VFP database and free tables. All the
tables can be viewed by anyone having access to that folder.
what are the security methods available for VFP database and free tables
thanks in advance
Wilson