Over the past few months I have been spending a large amount of time wondering how to encrypt data using Ruby, in InfoWorks ICM. For those who don't know, encryption refers to the process of transforming sensitive data into an unreadable form where it is unlikely to be intercepted by unauthorized viewers.
Note: Encryption does have other uses, for example, file modification prevention and software signing.
From the description above you might be able to see why encryption is so important, especially when handling sensitive client data. In hydraulic modelling this is often overlooked. However if the results or comments inside a hydraulic model became public, clients may be put in an uncomfortable position. Of course, as professionals this is something that we would like to avoid at all costs.