Resources
Decrypting Data
As noted in the background section, encrypted submissions cannot be analyzed online using this web app, as the raw data can only be extracted by the entity with the “.private” key file associated with the “.public” key file attached to the form. As a result of this, this section focuses on how encrypted data is downloaded, authenticated and decrypted offline using the CCA Desktop app.
Note that only the following users can download data submissions:
- All active Admin users with the View Data role set.
- tAll active users with the Analyst designation if the form is not assigned to a team.
- All active users with the Analyst designation that belong to the same team as the form if the form is assigned to a team.
It is necessary to reiterate here that users that are able to download encrypted data will not be able to decrypt same if they do not possess the requisite private key.
See Manage Users for more information on user privileges, roles and team assignment. Also see Manage Forms for information on restricting form access to members of a specific team.
Slide 1
(1) Login to the Dashboard.
(2) Click on Manage Forms -> Download Form.
(3) Click on the Get Forms button.
(4) Continue on the next slide.
Slide 2
In the result set presented which should look similar to the image shown above, click on the button in the 4th column of the table highlighted in the image. Continue on the next slide.
Slide 3
The dialog box shown above should pop up. Click on the link to download the zipped file containing the encrypted data dump. Unzip this folder and go to the next slide.
Slide 4
To decrypt the downloaded data dump take the following steps.
(1) Unzip the download JSON files and ensure that three files with the right postfix exist i.e., -crypt-dump.json, -crypt-schema.json and -data-schema.json.
(2) Start the CCA Desktop app.
(3) Click on the Decrypt Dump menu item on the left of the screen.
(4) Add the three JSON files contained in the downloaded zipped folder as depicted in the image above. Note that all three files are required for this operation.
(5) Add the public and private cryptographic key pair created earlier. Note that in addition to the three JSON files, these two cryptographic key files are also required.
(6) The encrypted data set can be decrypted to either JSON or the Excel format. In this example decryption to Excel will be used. To this end check the Decrypt to Excel? box highlighted in the image above.
(7) Click the Upload button. The duration of the decryption process will depend on the number of records to be decrypted.
(8) Once this decryption operation finishes, a download link for the zipped excel or JSON file format is presented. Click on the link and save the file to a folder/directory of choice.
(9) This lesson is now complete.