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The cyphr package seems to provide a good choice for small research group that shares sensitive data over internet (e.g., DropBox). I did some simple experiment myself and made sure it can actually serve my purpose.Want to share your content on R-bloggers? click here if you have a blog, or here if you don't.
I did my experiment on two computers (using openssl): I created the test data on my Linux workstation running Manjaro then I tried to access the data on a Windows 7 laptop.
For creating the data (Linux workstation):
library(cyphr)
# Create the test data
data_dir <- file.path(“~/Dropbox/temp_files”, “data”)
dir.create(data_dir)
dir(data_dir)
# Encrypt the test data
cyphr::data_admin_init(data_dir)
key <- cyphr::data_key(data_dir)
filename <- file.path(data_dir, “iris.rds”)
cyphr::encrypt(saveRDS(iris, filename), key)
dir(data_dir)
# Cannot read the data with decrypting it
readRDS(filename)
# Read the decrypted version of the data
head(cyphr::decrypt(readRDS(filename), key))
library(cyphr)
key <- data_key(“C:/Users/Ssong/Dropbox/temp_files/data”, path_user = “C:/Users/Ssong/.ssh”)
# Make data access request
data_request_access(“C:/Users/Ssong/Dropbox/temp_files/data”,
path_user = “C:/Users/Ssong/.ssh”)
On Windows 7, the system cannot locate the public located in “~/.ssh”, which is pretty dumb.
Going back to the Linux workstation to approve the data access request:
# Review the request and approve (to share with other users)
req <- data_admin_list_requests(data_dir)
data_admin_authorise(data_dir, yes = TRUE)
data_admin_list_keys(data_dir)
Now I can access the data on my Windows laptop:
key <- data_key(“C:/Users/Ssong/Dropbox/temp_files/data”, path_user = “C:/Users/Ssong/.ssh”)
d <- decrypt( readRDS( “C:/Users/Ssong/Dropbox/temp_files/data/iris.rds”), key)
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