encrypt / decrypt?

DreamT has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi again, I'm working on a simple "ajax framework", and i'd like to encrypt the parameters so that the Ajax call only has one parameter (data=<encrypted string>), instead of the standard 'a=123&b=12345'.
When the script receives the call, it should of course decrypt it.

It doesn't have to be "ultra-safe" (i.e. no "dangerous parameters" are sent), I just want it to look good;-)

How to do it?

Comment on encrypt / decrypt?

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Re: encrypt / decrypt? by Corion (Patriarch) on Jun 17, 2009 at 12:32 UTC
Use CGI::Session. This has the advantage that you don't even need JavaScript.	[reply]
Re^2: encrypt / decrypt? by DreamT (Pilgrim) on Jun 17, 2009 at 12:36 UTC
Ok, if I understand it right, this module makes it possible to store data "persistent"?	[reply]
Re^3: encrypt / decrypt? by Corion (Patriarch) on Jun 17, 2009 at 12:45 UTC
The "one line description" of CGI::Session says: CGI::Session - persistent session data in CGI applications That sounds similar to what you described.	[reply]
Re: encrypt / decrypt? by dorward (Curate) on Jun 17, 2009 at 13:21 UTC
Please don't. URIs don't need to look pretty, and adding layers of obfuscation makes development, bug fixing and maintenance harder.	[reply]
Re: encrypt / decrypt? by tmaly (Monk) on Jun 17, 2009 at 14:28 UTC
If you wanted to do the encryption on the client side, you could use dojo http://www.dojotoolkit.org/book/dojo-book-0-9/part-5-dojox/dojox-cryptography And then on the server side use a perl module of the same flavor cypher	[reply]
Re: encrypt / decrypt? by citromatik (Curate) on Jun 17, 2009 at 12:35 UTC
CPAN has a couple of encryption modules like Crypt::CBC or Crypt::Blowfish, you may test them citromatik	[reply]
Re: encrypt / decrypt? by jettero (Monsignor) on Jun 17, 2009 at 18:27 UTC
I think corion is right about using CGI::Session... but if you don't want to do that, and you insist on obfuscating the URI, you might consider treating the data as a path and using $cgi->path_info to extract the path past your CGI. (This only works in webservers that support it.) -Paul	[reply]