Re: Here's a suggestion for a better Encode/Decode method.

[Dan Nelson]

In the last episode (Jun 27), Daevid Vincent said:
> I have to say I'm very displeased with the whole way I *had* to build
> the database. It seems to me that security in databases should be
> paramount, and the ENCODE/DECODE functions feel like an afterthought.
> Like, "oh yeah, let's just slap this stuff in and have it only work
> on strings!". 

I don't know of any database engine that supports encryption of
arbitrary columns like that.  Security in Mysql is enforced by the
grant tables, and can be adjusted down to the column level.  Note that
this is exactly how Oracle handles permissions as well, and no-one's
complaining about *its* security.

Also, separately encrypting each column means you're going to have to
do full table scans for all your queries.  If mysqld can't get at the
column data, it can't index it.

-- 
	Dan Nelson
	dnelson@stripped