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Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:57 am
by Viswanathchandru
Hi folks,
I have a requirement where the file containing some records or codes needs to be encrypted and should be decrypted. Is this possible through cobol. I have heard encryption of VSAM contents using cobol. Is that possible to encrypt the entire contents of a Flat file(through cobol). Hope i'm clear. If possible can anyone help me in achieving this. Any suggestions will be more helpful for me.Apologies a ton if m wrong.


Regards,
Viswa.

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:13 pm
by enrico-sorichetti
Encryption is a serious business!
the issue should be discussed, approved, sponsored, by the highest powers of Your organization NOT ON A FORUM !
how to do it in cobol is just a low level technicality!
more important are the legal implication, according to Your organization profile ( Financial ? ) !
but it' s pity that people always forget about the organizational issues

YES... it can be done if You have the right software and skills
NO... nobody with a bit of good sense will tell You how to do it on a forum!

if You have been assigned the task by Your high powers...
well I am speechless for the carelessness with which You/Your organization tackle the issue

Apologies a ton if m wrong.
You are not wrong,
You ( worse ... Your organization ) just do not have the overall competence for such a complex issue!

a side note... Your organization should be prepared to pay quite higher fees
for consultancies on cryptographic issues ( probably in the range of 4 to 5 thousands $ per day )

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:28 pm
by Viswanathchandru
Hi enrico,
Thanks a lot for your reply,
The requirement is not going to deal with a million $. just for knowledge and to know what could be the process and out of curiosity i asked. Agreed i may not be technically sound and i believe forums like this and advice from people like you from real time will help us. Moreover i'm just trying to encrypt a flat file that contains only small data(not official). Just trying to learn this technology. Can you give me a guideline or some book links(if possible hope i'm not eating your time). Apologies if m wrong.


Regards,
Viswa.

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:43 pm
by enrico-sorichetti
if You are really interested in cryptography You are starting from the wrong path
You will have to do lots of reading and lots of paper and pencil computations before writing Your first call to a Cryptographic package

http://www.schneier.com/book-applied.html
and the included source code
http://www.schneier.com/book-applied-source.html

or for a more colloquial overall thing
Singh, Simon. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. New York: Anchor Books, 1999. ISBN 0385495323

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:26 pm
by Viswanathchandru
Hi enrico,

Thanks a lot for your reply and suggestions. will try to learn this in the way you advised.

regards,
viswa

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:27 pm
by Robert Sample
While it would not be impossible to write a cryptographic routine in COBOL, it would certainly be difficult. Modern cryptography generally works at the bit level, and COBOL just doesn't have the right tools for bit-level manipulations. Furthermore, designing a good cryptographic system is quite difficult, and using a bad cryptographic system is almost worse than not using any cryptography (since the sense of being protected by encrypting data is a false one when using a bad system).

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:18 am
by dick scherrer
Hello,

Why does someone believe encryption is needed?

What will you gain by encryption that would better protect this data than normal dataset security?

There are many reasons to use encryption - there are many reason not to use encryption. What would encryption accomplish for this situation?

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:29 am
by Viswanathchandru
Hi dick scherrer,
Thanks for your time and reply. Its just my interest to learn the concept of cryptography. Dataset protection ofcourse possible and i believe that encryption could save some more sensitive codes that is supposed to be protected.

Thanks,
Viswa.

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:51 am
by dick scherrer
You're welcome :)

Encryption covers a lot of ground so i'd find some overview material and this may be sufficient for what you want to lear at this point. Indeed, ZIPping a file with a password is one simple way of encrypting. . .

Later, a deeper understanding may be needed, but very few actually work with creating encryption algorithms.

d

Re: Encryption of a file using cobol.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:55 am
by Viswanathchandru
Hi scherrer,
Thanks again!! Well my humble request. could you please post some link(when your time permits) where i can find the basics of cryptography through cobol. I found some useful things from enrico's link.

Thanks,
Viswa.