Why Choose This Project

In many web and mobile applications, sensitive data (e.g., user details, financial info, medical records) is stored in plaintext within the database, which creates major security risks. This project focuses on building an API layer that encrypts/decrypts data before it is stored or retrieved, ensuring that data is unreadable even if the database is compromised.

This is an ideal project to learn about data-at-rest encryption, crypto libraries, secure key handling, and zero-trust storage models.

What You Get in This Project

A secure RESTful API that interfaces with a backend database, automatically encrypting and decrypting sensitive fields (like emails, passwords, addresses, etc.) before any data leaves or enters the database.

Technology Stack

How It Works

1. API Request
   Client sends a normal API request with plaintext data (e.g., user info).

2. Encryption Before Insert
   The API encrypts sensitive fields using AES-256 / RSA before saving to the database.

3. Decryption After Fetch
   When data is fetched from the database, encrypted fields are decrypted at the API level before returning to the client.

4. Key Management
   Uses securely stored symmetric keys or asymmetric key pairs. (Advanced: Integrate with AWS KMS or HashiCorp Vault.)

5. Field-Level Encryption
   Only selected fields (like email, phone, salary) are encrypted—others stay in plaintext for indexing or filtering.

Key Features