Data type preserving encryption

1. A method encrypting characters from a data element in a database, the method comprising:

reading information identifying a data type associated with data in a particular column of the database from a location in the database, the location being outside the particular column;

reading a data element from the particular column, the data element including a first character string;

associating an index value with each character in the first character string;

defining an initial value;

creating a second character string formed by replacing each character in the first character string with the character's associated index value;

replacing each index value in the second character string with a result obtained from adding adjacent index values pairwise from the left to the right using the initial value when adding the leftmost character;

encrypting the second character string wherein each character in the encrypted second character string is a valid member of the identified data type associated with the data element, where said encrypting includes converting encrypted replaced index values to characters; and

storing the encrypted second character string at the particular column of the first character string in the database.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of associating an index value further comprises:

arranging one or more character sets in a pattern for a data type; and

using the pattern to determine the association of index values with each character in the first character string.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the number of characters in the encrypted second character string is equal to the number of characters in the first character string.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of replacing each index value in the second character string further includes adding a varying value to each index value.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the encryption is performed using the DES algorithm in stream cipher mode.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial value is defined by hashing an encryption key.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of replacing further includes adding adjacent index values pairwise from the right to the left using the initial value when adding the leftmost character.

8. A method encrypting characters from a data element in a database, the method comprising:

reading information identifying a data type associated with data in a particular column of the database from a location in the database, the location being outside the particular column;

reading a data element from the particular column, the data element including a first character string;

associating an index value with each character in the first character string;

defining an initial value by hashing an encryption key;

creating a second character string formed by replacing each character in the first character string with the character's associated index value;

replacing each index value in the second character string with a result obtained from the steps of:

adding adjacent index values pairwise from the left to the right using the initial value when adding the leftmost character to obtain a first shift result;

adding to the first shift result adjacent index values pairwise from the right to the left using the initial value when adding the leftmost character to obtain a second shift result; and

adding to the second shift result a varying value;

encrypting the second character string wherein each character in the encrypted second character string is a valid member of the identified data type associated with the data element, where said encrypting includes converting encrypted replaced index values to characters; and

storing the encrypted second character string at the particular column of the first character string in the database.

9. A method according to claim 8 , wherein the encryption is performed using the DES algorithm in stream cipher mode.