Ruby Library
Step-by-step instructions for protecting data in your Ruby application

Overview
The Ubiq Security Ruby Client Library provides convenient interaction with the Ubiq Security Platform API from applications written in the Ruby language. It includes a pre-defined set of classes that will provide simple interfaces to encrypt and decrypt data.
Installation
Installing from Bundler
To install using Bundler, add the following to your project's Gemfile:
gem ubiq-security
Manual Install
To manually install ubiq-security Client Library via Rubygems, simply use gem to install it:
gem install ubiq-security
Installing from Source
To build and install directly from a clone of the Gitlab directory:
git clone https://gitlab.com/ubiqsecurity/ubiq-ruby.git
cd ubiq-ruby
bundle install
gem build ubiq-security.gemspec
gem install ./ubiq-security*.gem
You may need to run the gem install commands above using sudo.
Usage
Initialize
require 'ubiq-security'
include Ubiq
Credentials
The Client Library needs to be configured with your API Key Credentials which are available in the Ubiq Dashboard when you create a Dataset. The credentials can be explicitly set, set using environment variables, loaded from an explicit file or read from the default location [~/.ubiq/credentials].
A. Production and Production-Like Use
In a production deployment, it is critical to maintain the secrecy of Ubiq API Key Credentials (SECRET_CRYPTO_ACCESS_KEY and SECRET_SIGNING_KEY) and API tokens (ACCESS_KEY_ID)
These items SHOULD be stored in a secrets management server or password vault. They should NOT be stored in a standard data file, embedded in source code, committed to a source code repository, or insecurely used in environmental variables.
After API Key Credentials are obtained from the security server or vault by the client application, the Ubiq API Key Credential values can then be passed to the Credentials() function as strings.
B. Development Use
During initial development of an application, it may be desirable to use a simpler, insecure mechanism to store Ubiq API Key Credentials. The sections below provide some examples.
Read credentials from a specific file and use a specific profile
# This example is for development use only - Storing Ubiq API Key Credentials in a file is not recommended
credentials = ConfigCredentials.new( "some-credential-file", "some-profile").get_attributes
Read credentials from ~/.ubiq/credentials and use the default profile
# This example is for development use only - Storing Ubiq API Key credentials in a file is not recommended
credentials = ConfigCredentials.new().get_attributes
Use the following environment variables to set the API Key Credential values
UBIQ_ACCESS_KEY_ID
UBIQ_SECRET_SIGNING_KEY
UBIQ_SECRET_CRYPTO_ACCESS_KEY
# This example is for development use only - Storing Ubiq API Key Credentials in environmental variables is not generally recommended
credentials = Credentials()
Explicitly set the API Key Credentials
# This example is for development use only - Storing Ubiq API Key Credentials in source code is INSECURE!
credentials = Credentials(access_key_id = "...", secret_signing_key = "...", secret_crypto_access_key = "...")
Handling exceptions
Unsuccessful requests raise exceptions. The class of the exception will reflect the sort of error that occurred. Please see the API Reference for a description of the error classes you should handle, and for information on how to inspect these errors.
Unstructured Data Encryption
Configuration
Create a Dataset and obtain API Key Credentials using the Create Dataset Wizard with Unstructured selected for the Data Type.
Encrypt a simple block of data
Pass credentials and data into the encryption function. The encrypted data will be returned:
require 'ubiq-security'
include Ubiq
encrypted_data = encrypt(credentials, plaintext_data)
Decrypt a simple block of data
Pass credentials and encrypted data into the decryption function. The plaintext data will be returned:
require 'ubiq-security'
include Ubiq
plaintext_data = decrypt(credentials, encrypted_data)
Encrypt a large data element where data is loaded in chunks
- Create an encryption object using the credentials.
- Call the encryption instance begin method
- Call the encryption instance update method repeatedly until all the data is processed
- Call the encryption instance end method
- Call the encryption instance close method
require 'ubiq-security'
include Ubiq
# Process 1 MiB of plaintext data at a time
BLOCK_SIZE = 1024 * 1024
# Rest of the program
....
encryption = Encryption.new(credentials, 1)
# Write out the header information
encrypted_data = encryption.begin()
# Loop until the end of the input file is reached
until infile.eof?
chunk = infile.read BLOCK_SIZE
encrypted_data += encryption.update(chunk)
end
# Make sure any additional encrypted data is retrieved from encryption instance
encrypted_data += encryption.end()
# Make sure to release any resources used during the encryption process
encryption.close()
Decrypt a large data element where data is loaded in chunks
- Create an instance of the decryption object using the credentials.
- Call the decryption instance begin method
- Call the decryption instance update method repeatedly until all the data is processed
- Call the decryption instance end method
- Call the decryption instance close method
require 'ubiq-security'
include Ubiq
# Process 1 MiB of encrypted data at a time
BLOCK_SIZE = 1024 * 1024
# Rest of the program
....
decryption = Decryption(credentials)
# Start the decryption and get any header information
plaintext_data = decryption.begin()
# Loop until the end of the input file is reached
until infile.eof?
chunk = infile.read BLOCK_SIZE
plaintext_data += decryption.update(chunk)
end
# Make sure an additional plaintext data is retrieved from decryption instance
plaintext_data += decryption.end()
# Make sure to release any resources used during the decryption process
decryption.close()
Sample Application
Overview
This sample application will demonstrate how to encrypt and decrypt data using the different APIs.
Installation
Make sure to first install the ubiq-security Ruby Client Library if you have not done so yet:
gem install ubiq-security
Then from within the example directory using Bundler:
cd example
bundle install
ruby ubiq_sample.rb -h
Credentials file
Edit the API Key Credentials file with your account API Key Credentials created using the Ubiq Dashboard.
[default]
ACCESS_KEY_ID = ...
SECRET_SIGNING_KEY = ...
SECRET_CRYPTO_ACCESS_KEY = ...
Example for Unstructured Data
View program options
From within the example directory:
cd example
ruby ubiq_sample.rb -h
Usage: ubiq_sample [options]
-h, --help Show this help message and exit
-V, --version Show program's version number and exit
-e Encrypt the contents of the input file and write the results to output file
-d Decrypt the contents of the input file and write the results to output file
-s, Use the simple encryption / decryption interfaces
-p, Use the piecewise encryption / decryption interfaces
-i, --infile INFILE
The input file containing the data to be encrypted/decrypted
-o, --outfile OUTFILE
The output file containing the result after encryption/decryption
-c, --credentials CREDENTIALS
The name of the credentials file from where keys will be loaded
-P PROFILE, --profile PROFILE
Identify the profile within the credentials file (default: default)
Demonstrate using the simple (-s / --simple) API interface to encrypt this README.md file and write the encrypted data to /tmp/readme.enc
ruby ubiq_sample.rb -i ./README.md -o /tmp/readme.enc -e -s -c ./credentials
Demonstrate using the simple (-s / --simple) API interface to decrypt the /tmp/readme.enc file and write the decrypted output to /tmp/README.out
ruby ubiq_sample.rb -i /tmp/readme.enc -o /tmp/README.out -d -s -c ./credentials
Demonstrate using the piecewise (-p / --piecewise) API interface to encrypt this README.md file and write the encrypted data to /tmp/readme.enc
ruby ubiq_sample.rb -i ./README.md -o /tmp/readme.enc -e -p -c ./credentials
Demonstrate using the piecewise (-p / --piecewise) API interface to decrypt the /tmp/readme.enc file and write the decrypted output to /tmp/README.out
ruby ubiq_sample.rb -i /tmp/readme.enc -o /tmp/README.out -d -p -c ./credentials
Updated 4 months ago