--- title: Encode attribute values description: There are two ways to encode attribute values for managed objects—reversible encryption and salted hashing algorithms. Attribute values that might be encoded include passwords, authentication questions, credit card numbers, and social security numbers. If passwords are already encoded on the external resource, they are generally excluded from the synchronization process. For more information, refer to Passwords. component: pingidm version: 7.3 page_id: pingidm:security-guide:encoding-attribute-values canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingidm/8.1/security-guide/encoding-attribute-values.html llms_txt: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingidm/llms.txt docs_for_agents: https://developer.pingidentity.com/build-with-ai/docs-for-agents.md keywords: ["Security", "Password", "Encryption", "Salted Hash", "Algorithms", "HMAC", "SHA-256", "SHA-384", "SHA-512"] superseded_by: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingidm/8.1/security-guide/encoding-attribute-values.html section_ids: encoding-encryption: Reversible encryption encrypt-ui: Configure encryption using the admin UI encoding-salted-hash: Salted hash algorithms secure-hash-ui: Configure hashing using the admin UI --- # Encode attribute values There are two ways to encode attribute values for managed objects—reversible encryption and salted hashing algorithms. Attribute values that might be encoded include passwords, authentication questions, credit card numbers, and social security numbers. If passwords are already encoded on the external resource, they are generally excluded from the synchronization process. For more information, refer to [Passwords](chap-passwords.html). You configure attribute value encoding, per schema property, in the managed object configuration *(tooltip: You can edit the managed object configuration over REST at the config/managed endpoint, or directly in the conf/managed.json file.)*. The following sections show how to use reversible encryption and salted hash algorithms to encode attribute values. ## Reversible encryption The following managed object configuration *(tooltip: You can edit the managed object configuration over REST at the config/managed endpoint, or directly in the conf/managed.json file.)* encrypts and decrypts the `password` attribute using the default symmetric key: ```json { "objects" : [ { "name" : "user", ... "schema" : { ... "properties" : { ... "password" : { "title" : "Password", ... "encryption" : { "purpose" : "idm.password.encryption" }, "scope" : "private", } ... } ] } ``` The settings for reversible encryption depend on the encryption capabilities of the underlying JVM. refer to the explanations in [javax.crypto.Cipher](https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/11/docs/api/java.base/javax/crypto/Cipher.html). You can accept the default settings, or specify the `cipher` and the `keySize`, for example: ```json ... "encryption" : { "purpose": "idm.password.encryption", "cipher": "AES/GCM/NoPadding", "keySize": 128 }, ``` The syntax for the `cipher` is algorithm/mode/padding, for example, `"cipher" : "AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding"`: * The cipher algorithm defines how the plaintext is encrypted and decrypted. The default algorithm is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). * The cipher mode defines how a block cipher algorithm transforms data larger than a single block. The default cipher mode is cipher block chaining (CBC). * The cipher padding defines how to pad the plaintext to reach the appropriate size for the algorithm. The default cipher padding is PKCS#5 padding. * The cipher key size determines the encryption strength, where longer key lengths strengthen encryption at the cost of lower performance. The default `keySize` is `16`. | | | | - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | If you change the default cipher, you must specify the algorithm, mode, and padding. If the algorithm does not require a mode, use `NONE`. If the algorithm does not require padding, use `NoPadding`. | To encrypt attribute values from the command-line, refer to [encrypt](../setup-guide/chap-cli.html#cli-encrypt). ### Configure encryption using the admin UI 1. Select Configure > Managed Objects, and select the object type whose property values you want to encrypt (for example, User). 2. On the Properties tab, select the property whose value should be encrypted and select the Encrypt checkbox. ## Salted hash algorithms To encode attribute values with salted hash algorithms, add the `secureHash` property to the attribute definition and define the hashing configuration. The configuration depends on the algorithm that you choose. If you do not specify an algorithm, `SHA-256` is used by default. MD5 and SHA-1 are supported for legacy reasons, but should not be used in production environments. **Supported Hashing Algorithms and Configuration Properties** | Algorithm | Config Property and Description | | --------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `BCRYPT` | * `cost` Value between 4 and 31. Default is `13`. | | `PBKDF2` | - `hashLength` Byte-length of the generated hash. Default is `16`. - `saltLength` Byte-length of the salt value. Default is `16`. - `iterations` Number of cryptographic iterations. Default is `20000`. - `hmac` HMAC algorithm. Default is `SHA3-256`. Supported values: * `SHA-224` * `SHA-256` * `SHA-384` * `SHA-512` * `SHA3-224` * `SHA3-256` * `SHA3-384` * `SHA3-512` | | `SCRYPT` | * `hashLength` Byte-length of the generated hash, must be greater than or equal to 8. Default is `16`. * `saltLength` Byte-length of the salt value. Default is `16`. * `n` CPU/Memory cost. Must be greater than 1, a power of 2, and less than *2^(128 \* r / 8)*. Default is `32768`. * `p` Parallelization. Must be a positive integer less than or equal to *Integer.MAX_VALUE / (128 \* r \* 8)*. Default is `1`. * `r` Block size. Must be greater than or equal to 1. Default is `8`. | | `SHA-256` | - `saltLength` Byte-length of the salt value. Default is `16`. This is the default hashing. | | `SHA-384` | * `saltLength` Byte-length of the salt value. Default is `16`. | | `SHA-512` | - `saltLength` Byte-length of the salt value. Default is `16`. | The following list displays supported hash algorithms and example configurations: * `SHA-256` ```json "secureHash" : { "algorithm" : "SHA-256", "saltLength" : 16 } ``` * `SHA-384` ```json "secureHash" : { "algorithm" : "SHA-384", "saltLength" : 16 } ``` * `SHA-512` ```json "secureHash" : { "algorithm" : "SHA-512", "saltLength" : 16 } ``` * `Bcrypt` ```json "secureHash" : { "algorithm" : "BCRYPT", "cost" : 16 } ``` * `Scrypt` ```json "secureHash" : { "algorithm" : "SCRYPT", "hashLength" : 16, "saltLength" : 16, "n" : 32768, "r" : 8, "p" : 1 } ``` * Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (`PBKDF2`) ```json "secureHash" : { "algorithm" : "PBKDF2", "hashLength" : 16, "saltLength" : 16, "iterations" : 10, "hmac" : "SHA-256" } ``` | | | | - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Some one-way hash functions are designed to be computationally *expensive*. Functions such as PBKDF2, Bcrypt, and Scrypt are designed to be relatively slow even on modern hardware. This makes them generally less susceptible to brute force attacks. *However*, computationally expensive functions can dramatically increase response times. If you use these functions, be aware of the performance impact and perform extensive testing before deploying your service in production. Do not use functions like PBKDF2 and Bcrypt for any accounts that are used for frequent, short-lived connections.Hashing is a one-way operation, such that the original value cannot be recovered. Therefore, if you hash the value of any property, you cannot synchronize that property value to an external resource. For managed object properties with hashed values, you must either exclude those properties from the mapping or set a random default value if the external resource requires the property. | The following excerpt of a managed object configuration shows that values of the `password` attribute are hashed using the `SHA-256` algorithm: ```json { "objects" : [ { "name" : "user", ... "schema" : { ... "properties" : { ... "password" : { "title" : "Password", ... "secureHash" : { "algorithm" : "SHA-256" }, "scope" : "private", } ... } ] } ``` To hash attribute values from the command-line, refer to [secureHash](../setup-guide/chap-cli.html#cli-secure-hash). ### Configure hashing using the admin UI You can set a property hash algorithm using the admin UI. However, only some algorithms and none of the enhanced configuration options are supported. > **Collapse: Show Me** > > ![Admin UI hash property](_images/Admin-UI-hash-property.gif) 1. Select Configure > Managed Objects, and select an object type (for example, User). 2. On the Properties tab, select a property to hash. 3. On the Property *Name* page, click the Privacy & Encryption tab, and select Hashed. 4. From the adjacent drop-down menu, select an algorithm. 5. Click Save.