protectData

The iExec tool suite supports deployment of applications where the user of the application has complete and total control over access to their data. This ensures privacy and security when invoking these applications.

Through use of the protectData method, a user may encrypt and secure any type of data. Encryption occurs on the client side, supporting the user's control over their data.

Usage

The method accepts a JSON object containing the data to encrypt and an optional name to identify the data.

An email address, for example, may be submitted as:

const protectedData = await dataProtectorCore.protectData({
  data: {
    email: 'example@gmail.com',
  },
});

Your object may contain any number of custom keys. The following example illustrates protection of multiple categories of data within one object:

const protectedData = await dataProtectorCore.protectData({
  data: {
    email: 'example@gmail.com',
    SMTPserver: {
      port: 5000,
      smtp_server: 'smtp.gmail.com',
    },
  },
});

Parameters

import { type ProtectDataParams } from '@iexec/dataprotector';

data Required *

Type: DataObject

This is the actual data the user is protecting, provided as a JSON object with any number of custom keys. The data is encrypted and stored as an NFT.

const protectedData = await dataProtectorCore.protectData({
  data: { 
    email: 'example@gmail.com',
  },
});

TIP

If you'd like to protect a file, you first need to convert it to some kind of buffer. To do so, you can use createArrayBufferFromFile.

import { createArrayBufferFromFile } from '@iexec/dataprotector';

const fileAsArrayBuffer = await createArrayBufferFromFile(file);

TIP

If you want to protect an Array, you must represent it as a Record<string, any>. To do so, you can use the reduceArray method implemented in this example.

const reduceArray = (array: Array<any>): Record<string, any> =>
  array.reduce((accumulator, current, i) => {
    accumulator[i] = current;
    return accumulator;
  }, {});

const emailsArray = [
  'example@gmail.com',
  'example@my-company.com',
  'example@example.com',
];

const protectedData = await dataProtectorCore.protectData({
  data: {
    emails: reduceArray(emailsArray),
  },
});

/**
 * protectedData.schema:
 * {
 *   emails: {
 *     0: 'string',
 *     1: 'string',
 *     2: 'string'
 *   }
 * }
 */

name Optional

Type: string
Default: ''

Allows providing a descriptive name for the protected data. This is considered public metadata, describing the protected data.

const protectedData = await dataProtectorCore.protectData({
  name: 'myEmail',
  data: {
    email: 'example@gmail.com',
  },
});

TIP

The name is public and not encrypted.

onStatusUpdate Optional

Type: OnStatusUpdateFn<ProtectDataStatuses>

Callback function to be notified at intermediate steps.

const protectedData = await dataProtectorCore.protectData({
  name: 'myEmail',
  data: {
    email: 'example@gmail.com',
  },
  onStatusUpdate: ({ title, isDone }) => {
    console.log(title, isDone); 
  },
});

You can expect this callback function to be called with the following titles:

'EXTRACT_DATA_SCHEMA';
'CREATE_ZIP_FILE';
'CREATE_ENCRYPTION_KEY';
'ENCRYPT_FILE';
'UPLOAD_ENCRYPTED_FILE';
'DEPLOY_PROTECTED_DATA';
'PUSH_SECRET_TO_SMS';

Once with isDone: false, and then with isDone: true

Return value

import type {
  ProtectedDataWithSecretProps,
  ProtectedData,
} from '@iexec/dataprotector';

The protectData method returns the following fields, as a JSON object.

name

string

The optional name provided during invocation of the method. If no name is specified this value defaults to Untitled.

address

Address

The ETH address of the newly created protectedData.

owner

Address

The ETH address of the creator and owner of this protectedData.

schema

DataSchema

Metadata describing the fields provided in the data parameter. The data types are automatically detected and listed in the schema.

TIP

The following data types are automatically detected:

• Scalars
  • bool
  • f64 (JavaScript number)
  • i128 (JavaScript bigint up to 128 bits)
  • string
• Binary:
  • application/octet-stream
  • application/pdf
  • application/xml
  • application/zip
  • audio/midi
  • audio/mpeg
  • audio/x-wav
  • image/bmp
  • image/gif
  • image/jpeg
  • image/png
  • image/webp
  • video/mp4
  • video/mpeg
  • video/x-msvideo

Any undetected binary data type is categorized as application/octet-stream

creationTimestamp

number

A unix-style timestamp indicating the creation time of this protectedData.

transactionHash

string

The ID of the transaction that happened on iExec's side chain. You may view details on the transaction using the iExec explorer.

zipFile

Uint8Array

Under the hood, your protected data will be compressed as a zip file. In this zip file, you'll find back all of your protected fields, each field being serialized with a tool called borsh. You can find more details here: deserializer.

This is mainly returned for debug purpose.

encryptionKey

Uint8Array

The encryption key generated by the client to encrypt the data. This key is for your own usage. You will not have to share it in the context of the iExec protocol or developer tools.

Under the hood, it is a symmetric AES-256 key.

TIP

The zip file generated is a Uint8Array, so if you want to handle the binary data or download it consider adding a zip extension to it.

multiaddr

string | undefined

The multiaddr field is the IPFS path of your encrypted data.

TIP

You can access your encrypted IPFS data with the link:

https://ipfs-gateway.v8-bellecour.iex.ec/ipfs/abc123...

abc123... is the second part of the returned string /p2p/abc123...

Created protected data

To further check your data was correctly created, you can inspect it on the iExec explorer.