Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields Nulled

When you collect sensitive customer information through web forms, the security of that data at rest is just as critical as the security of the data in transit. Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields, developed by PluginOwl, is a premium WordPress add-on designed to bridge this gap by providing bank-grade encryption for data stored in your Gravity Forms database. It offers granular control over who can view specific field data, ensuring that administrators and backend users only see the information they are explicitly authorized to access. This plugin is built for businesses, agencies, and developers who handle personal, private, or regulated data (such as GDPR or HIPAA-related information) and need a reliable, flexible solution to protect it from database breaches and internal misuse without sacrificing the core functionality of Gravity Forms.

Key Features

Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields is packed with advanced security features that go far beyond simple data scrambling. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools to lock down your form data while maintaining usability for authorized personnel.

• AES-256 Encryption: Utilizes AES-256, a bank and military-grade standard for database storage encryption, ensuring that data is unreadable without the correct key.
• Selectable Encryption Types: Offers flexibility with support for OpenSSL (recommended) and legacy Mcrypt, allowing compatibility with various server configurations.
• Asynchronous Strict Access Mode: An optional, highly secure mode that requires an additional password for decryption, adding a powerful second layer of defense against unauthorized access.
• Advanced User/Role Permissions: Provides the ability to set view permissions for individual fields or globally across all forms, based on specific WordPress user roles or individual users.
• Merge Tag Control: Features custom merge tags to filter, exclude, or output encrypted data in notifications and confirmations, including decrypted versions for authorized users only.
• Native Search Functionality: Maintains the ability to search entries based on encrypted field data, with user/role-based permissions to ensure search results remain secure.
• Data Lifecycle Management: Includes powerful features to auto-delete form entries, file uploads, or specific field data after processing, helping you minimize stored sensitive data.
• Encryption on Legacy Data: Allows you to apply encryption to existing, previously unencrypted form entries, ensuring your historical data is also secured.
• Developer Helper Functions: Provides simple PHP helper functions to programmatically encrypt and decrypt data, offering flexibility for custom development.

Who Is This For? Use Cases

Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields is a versatile tool that serves a wide range of users, but it is particularly critical for those who handle sensitive information. Its core value proposition is the separation of data access from administrative privileges, ensuring that only those who need to see the data can actually see it.

Businesses Managing Customer PII

Any business that collects personal identifiable information (PII) like names, addresses, phone numbers, or email addresses can benefit. This plugin ensures that this data is not stored in plain text, mitigating the risk of a data breach. If a database is compromised, the stolen data remains encrypted and useless to the attacker.

Agencies and Freelancers with Multiple Clients

For agencies that manage multiple client websites or have a team of developers and administrators, this plugin is invaluable. It allows you to restrict access to sensitive form data to only the project manager or the client themselves, preventing other team members from viewing confidential information they don’t need for their role.

Organizations Aiming for Compliance

If you are working towards GDPR compliance or handling data subject to HIPAA or PCI regulations, this plugin is an essential component. It helps meet the requirement of securing personal data at rest and provides granular control over who has access, which is a crucial part of demonstrating compliance.

Developers Building Custom Solutions

Developers will find the included helper functions and the option to pass encrypted strings via merge tags particularly useful. This allows for the creation of custom workflows where data can be securely transferred between forms or to third-party systems via email notifications, all while maintaining encryption.

Technical Details & Compatibility

Before implementing any security plugin, it is essential to understand the technical requirements to ensure a smooth integration with your existing WordPress environment. Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields is designed to be compatible with modern WordPress setups.

• WordPress Compatibility: The plugin requires WordPress version 4.6 or higher.
• PHP Requirements: It is compatible with PHP version 5.6 or higher. For PHP 7.2 and above, OpenSSL encryption is required and always recommended.
• Gravity Forms Requirement: You must have Gravity Forms version 2.5 or higher installed to use this add-on.
• Server Encryption Support: Your server must have either OpenSSL or Mcrypt enabled. OpenSSL is the preferred and recommended method, while Mcrypt is considered legacy and not recommended for new installations.
• Payment Gateway Compatibility: The plugin is designed to work with all payment gateways, as it allows for the selective encryption of fields, ensuring that product and pricing fields remain unencrypted for processing.
• Add-On Integration: It works seamlessly with other Gravity Forms add-ons, including the “Save and Continue” feature and the Partial Entries add-on, ensuring that even incomplete form submissions are secured.

Pros and Cons

To provide a balanced view, here is a breakdown of the plugin’s strengths and a few considerations to keep in mind.

Pros

• Granular Access Control: The ability to set view permissions per field and per user/role is a standout feature, offering far more control than simple encryption plugins.
• Transparent User Experience: For users with permission, decryption is automatic and invisible. They can view and export entries exactly as they would with standard Gravity Forms.
• Preserves Core Functionality: Unlike some free alternatives, this plugin is built to work with payment gateways, user registration add-ons, and other extensions without breaking their core processes.
• Comprehensive Data Management: Features like auto-deletion of entries and the ability to encrypt legacy data provide a complete data lifecycle management solution.
• Strong Social Proof: With over 3,530 sales on CodeCanyon, the plugin has a proven track record and a substantial user base, indicating reliability and community trust.
• Excellent Value: At $74.00, the plugin offers a cost-effective alternative to potential fines or reputational damage from a data breach, making it a worthwhile investment for any business handling sensitive data.

Cons

• Requires Gravity Forms: This is an add-on, so it requires a paid Gravity Forms license to function, adding to the overall cost.
• Complex Setup for Advanced Features: While basic setup is quick, utilizing the full range of features like granular permissions and async mode requires a learning curve and careful configuration.
• Search Limitations: The native search function for encrypted fields only works with exact matches, not partial content, which can be a minor limitation for some users.
• Server Requirements: The requirement for specific PHP versions and OpenSSL/Mcrypt support may exclude users on older or less flexible hosting environments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some common questions potential buyers have about implementing and using Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields.

Can I encrypt existing form entries that were collected before I installed this plugin?

Yes. One of the most valuable features of Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields is its ability to apply encryption to legacy data. The plugin allows you to add encryption to previous entries for specified forms, and you can run this in batches to completely encrypt all entries of a form. This ensures your historical data is brought up to the same security standard as new submissions.

Will this plugin work with my payment gateway, like Stripe or PayPal?

Yes, the plugin is designed to work with all payment gateways. It achieves this by allowing you to selectively choose which fields to encrypt. You can leave product, pricing, and payment-related fields unencrypted so they can be processed normally by your gateway and other Gravity Forms add-ons. The plugin then encrypts the other sensitive fields you designate for database storage.

What happens when a user without permission views an entry?

Users who do not have view permissions for a specific field will not see the actual data. Instead, they will see a customizable restricted display message. The plugin offers separate displays for encrypted versus hidden data, which you can customize or set to show nothing at all. This ensures that unauthorized users cannot see the value of the field in the admin interface, exports, or search results.

Final Verdict

In a digital landscape where data breaches are increasingly common and costly, Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields by PluginOwl stands out as a robust, professional-grade solution for securing your form data. It is not merely an encryption tool; it is a comprehensive data access control system that gives you complete authority over who can see what within your Gravity Forms installation. The plugin’s flexibility, from selective field encryption to granular user/role permissions, sets it apart from the limited and outdated free alternatives that often compromise security or break compatibility with essential add-ons. With over 3,530 sales, a clear commitment to regular updates, and a focus on preserving the native Gravity Forms experience for authorized users, this plugin offers a compelling and dependable value proposition. For any business serious about protecting customer data and achieving compliance, this is an indispensable investment.

Do not leave the security of your sensitive data to chance. Equip your WordPress site with the advanced protection it deserves. Purchase Gravity Forms Encrypted Fields today and take full control of your data security.