Encryption and decryption can be a bit cheesy to come to grips with. The most common library is probably cryptojs which has endless options. Since most people simply want to encrypt some data and decrypt it again, I figured it would be useful to publish an Apps Script library which uses cryptojs underneath but only presents limited and simple, but useful options.

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2.1 Shortcut to library

2.2 Initializing an instance

2.3 check

2.4 Encrypting and decrypting text

2.5 Generating a random pass phrase

2.6 Crypting a number

2.7 Crypting an object

3 Links

3.1 Share with your network

Simple Crypto

Underneath I’m currently using a port of simple-crypto-js which in turn is based on crypto-js. Crypto is a pretty significant piece of code, so the library, bmSimpleCrypto is pretty big, so con’t be surprised at a relatively long load time.

How to use

You can clone testBmSimpleCrypto for some examples of how to use it, but I’ll go through it in the following sections.

Shortcut to library

After including a reference to the library

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let’s start by making a shortcut to the library namespace, and showing the version of the encrpter I’m using.

  const gc = bmSimpleCrypto.GasCrypt;
  console.log(gc.getVersion())

shortcut to library namespace

simple-crypto 2.5.0

Initializing an instance

To encrypt and decrypt data you’ll need an instance of the crypter object and a pass code.

  // use a given passphrase and some text
  let secret = 'my secret passphrase';
  let sc = gc.newCrypto(secret);

create instance

check

For testing assurance there’s an example of a function to compare before and after. It’ll be referenced in the code following and you can get a copy (if you need it) in testBmSimpleCrypto

Encrypting and decrypting text

It’s simple – just pass the text you need encrypted and the pass phrase. You’ll get back an encrypted version that can be reversed using the same pass phrase.

  let original = 'some text'
  let crypted = sc.encrypt(original);
  let decrypted =  sc.decrypt(crypted);
  check (original, decrypted)
  console.log(`${crypted}\n${decrypted}\n${secret}`);

encrypting and decrypting text

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some text
my secret passphrase

result

Generating a random pass phrase

It’s recommended to use a random pass phrase rather than one you might think of. Simple-crypto can generate one for you, which you can then use to set (or reset) your crypter secret.

  // use a random secret - better
  secret = gc.randomString()
  // we can make a new instance, or reset the secret on an existing instance
  sc.setSecret(secret)
  original = 'some other text'
  crypted = sc.encrypt(original);
  decrypted =  sc.decrypt(crypted);
  check (original, decrypted)
  console.log(`${crypted}\n${decrypted}\n${secret}`);

use a random pass phrase

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some other text
48c16e7e4db7adc0cb72e1d8af4dbd3e4b950e24c34698e09c4c5a8c3e0c4b6a

using a random passphrase

Crypting a number

It’s not just text that can be encrypted and decrypted – so can numbers, booleans and plain objects

  // crypting a number
  original = Math.PI
  crypted = sc.encrypt(original);
  decrypted =  sc.decrypt(crypted);
  check (original, decrypted)
  console.log(`${crypted}\n${JSON.stringify(decrypted)}\n${secret}`);

crypting a number

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3.141592653589793
48c16e7e4db7adc0cb72e1d8af4dbd3e4b950e24c34698e09c4c5a8c3e0c4b6a  console.log(`${crypted}\n${JSON.stringify(decrypted)}\n${secret}`);

a number

Crypting an object

  // crypting an object
  original = {text: 'an object to crypt', a:[1,2,3], b: true, c: { a: 'something'}}
  crypted = sc.encrypt(original);
  decrypted =  sc.decrypt(crypted);
  check (original, decrypted)
  console.log(`${crypted}\n${JSON.stringify(decrypted)}\n${secret}`);

crypting an object

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{"text":"an object to crypt","a":[1,2,3],"b":true,"c":{"a":"something"}}
48c16e7e4db7adc0cb72e1d8af4dbd3e4b950e24c34698e09c4c5a8c3e0c4b6a

an object