PHP file encryption for security Purpose

[silvester]

Recently We had a concern regarding the security of the innovative projects developed.The solution sorted out is that the scripts must be encrypted using a third party software.
I have going through two good encrypting software ioncube encoder and zend gaurd.

Listed below are some of the do's and dont's of the software's

For zend, pros:
1. well-known
2. more robust
3. backward compatibility

cons:
1. the price tag is high;
2. cracking attempts/tools
3. zend optimizer must be installed by system admin


For ioncube, pros:

1. price is very less
2. system admin privilege is not a requirement (for the recipient of the encoded scripts), you can distribute the loader with your files
3)secure
4)Easy to use,GUI is good and Unique Encrypton feature
5) customer support

cons:
1. bulky bundle for different php versions (loader)
2. a few php functions (dl?) are required to load the loader if it is not installed system-wide. for security reasons, most shared hosting provider disable such functions.

You can review the result of the test conducted in between zend gaurd and ioncube encode at

Please have your thought on this.....

[jay]

Good concern and solution Silvester.

As these software are installed on the server and it decrypts the code as soon as a request is received, it's a good practice to encrypt only one file which contains all the configuration ,includes and security code. This will make sure that those have access to files are unable to run or use it.

Encrypting all the files will increase the page load time.

Security code will make sure that the program will only run in a particular ip / server.

Unfortunately there is no free software available for this purpose.

Is there any?

[douglas]

YES. There is opensource PHP Encryption software as well.

PHP Obfuscator (POBS)