[thelist] Base64 Encodng and Encryption in ASP

[Simon Willison]

Og wrote:

> Hello all.  I'm working with a merchant account and their instructions
 > are telling me that I have to encode a portion of the form submission
 > with Base64 Encryption.

Alarm bells are ringing: Base64 is NOT an encryption scheme. It is a 
useful way for encoding binary content as ascii - for example, it's used 
to send binary attachments by email - but it provides absolutely no 
additional security as anyone who knows the algorithm can decode it. I 
sincerely hope this merchant account has more "security" than just base64!

Best regards,

Simon Willison