Overview

Encryption for Contact Form 7 is a very simple plugin that extends the functionality of Contact Form 7. Protect your users’ data, increase privacy, and add an additional layer of security to all submitted form data through Contact Form 7 by encrypting them with this easy-to-use plugin!

The PRO version saves submitted form data and includes a backend view where privileged users can view the encrypted data. It introduced two (2) new user capabilities, read encrypted data and manage entries, where any user can be granted one or both while the rest either see redacted information or none at all.

What does it do?

This plugin works behind the scenes to keep your form data safe. When a user submits a form created in Contact Form 7, the data is encrypted. Without this plugin, storage plugins for Contact Form 7 save information in the database submitted through your forms in plain text. With this plugin, that data is encrypted before being saved.

Emails sent from Contact Form 7 aren’t affected either! The recipient(s) will see the decrypted data.

Why do I need it?

If your database is ever hacked or stolen, data stored in plain text are vulnerable! Encrypting those values adds a layer of security and privacy because the hacker won’t be able to read them, it will look like jumbled, garbled text. You may need this plugin if your WordPress website uses Contact Form 7 and:

is for a healthcare business/organization that needs to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) when collecting and storing protected health information (PHI)
is for an educational agency/institute that needs to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) when collecting and storing student records and their personally identifiable information (PII)
is for an attorney/law firm to fulfill their legal duty of confidentiality to their clients and cases
needs to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—see (1)(a) of Article 32 GDPR – Security of processing
collects sensitive data

How do I use it?

After installing and activating this plugin, you only need to add two (2) new lines to your WordPress website’s wp-config.php file:

define('ENCRYPT_CF7_SECRET_KEY', '<generated secret key>');
define('ENCRYPT_CF7_HASH_KEY', '<generated hash key>');

Both keys should be unique to your website, as they are the keys to your kingdom! Literally, these keys are what makes your encryption and decryption work for just your website.

If your database was stolen and they tried to decrypt the form data with this plugin, it will not work without your keys, keeping your form data safe!

If you lose your keys, you cannot decrypt your own data (and neither can I), so keep them safe. Consider backing them up somewhere offline too.

This is also why the keys are saved in the wp-config.php file instead of a setting in the plugin accessible from WordPress backend: because then it’d be in the very database you’re trying to keep safe! That’s like leaving your car keys in the car.

Additionally, there are two keys, so even if one is compromised, the data still can’t be decrypted. This is like two people having to turn both of their keys at the same time to open the secret vault.

About the Secret Key

The secret key defined by ENCRYPT_CF7_SECRET_KEY can be whatever you want! You can generate a random string, use something you’ll remember, or grab one from my random key generator. The longer and more random it is, the more challenging it’ll be to guess.

About the Hash Key

The hash key defined by ENCRYPT_CF7_HASH_KEY, by default, is a random string that is 64 bytes in length. You can generate your own using the code snippet below or grab one from my random key generator.

Random Key Generator

Want some random keys? Take these! Click here to refresh the page for new ones. These keys change every time the page is refreshed and they aren’t stored anywhere.

Customize Encryption

If you know what you’re doing, you can customize your encryption and decryption method with more constant variables. See the sections below.

Cipher Algorithm

You can specify a cipher algorithm by setting the constant value for ENCRYPT_CF7_CIPHER like this:

define('ENCRYPT_CF7_CIPHER', '<insert algo here>');

View possible cipher algorithms

aes-128-cbc
aes-128-cbc-hmac-sha1
aes-128-cbc-hmac-sha256
aes-128-ccm
aes-128-cfb
aes-128-cfb1
aes-128-cfb8
aes-128-ctr
aes-128-gcm
aes-128-ocb
aes-128-ofb
aes-128-xts
aes-192-cbc
aes-192-ccm
aes-192-cfb
aes-192-cfb1
aes-192-cfb8
aes-192-ctr
aes-192-gcm
aes-192-ocb
aes-192-ofb
aes-256-cbc
aes-256-cbc-hmac-sha1
aes-256-cbc-hmac-sha256
aes-256-ccm
aes-256-cfb
aes-256-cfb1
aes-256-cfb8
aes-256-ctr
aes-256-gcm
aes-256-ocb
aes-256-ofb
aes-256-xts
aria-128-cbc
aria-128-ccm
aria-128-cfb
aria-128-cfb1
aria-128-cfb8
aria-128-ctr
aria-128-gcm
aria-128-ofb
aria-192-cbc
aria-192-ccm
aria-192-cfb
aria-192-cfb1
aria-192-cfb8
aria-192-ctr
aria-192-gcm
aria-192-ofb
aria-256-cbc
aria-256-ccm
aria-256-cfb
aria-256-cfb1
aria-256-cfb8
aria-256-ctr
aria-256-gcm
aria-256-ofb
bf-cbc
bf-cfb
bf-ofb
camellia-128-cbc
camellia-128-cfb
camellia-128-cfb1
camellia-128-cfb8
camellia-128-ctr
camellia-128-ofb
camellia-192-cbc
camellia-192-cfb
camellia-192-cfb1
camellia-192-cfb8
camellia-192-ctr
camellia-192-ofb
camellia-256-cbc
camellia-256-cfb
camellia-256-cfb1
camellia-256-cfb8
camellia-256-ctr
camellia-256-ofb
cast5-cbc
cast5-cfb
cast5-ofb
chacha20
chacha20-poly1305
id-aes128-CCM
id-aes128-GCM
id-aes128-wrap
id-aes128-wrap-pad
id-aes192-CCM
id-aes192-GCM
id-aes192-wrap
id-aes192-wrap-pad
id-aes256-CCM
id-aes256-GCM
id-aes256-wrap
id-aes256-wrap-pad
idea-cbc
idea-cfb
idea-ofb
seed-cbc
seed-cfb
seed-ofb
sm4-cbc
sm4-cfb
sm4-ctr
sm4-ofb

Hash Algorithm

You can specify a hash algorithm by setting the constant value for ENCRYPT_CF7_HASH_ALGO like this:

define('ENCRYPT_CF7_HASH_ALGO', '<insert algo here>');

View possible hash algorithms

md2
md4
md5
sha1
sha224
sha256
sha384
sha512/224
sha512/256
sha512
sha3-224
sha3-256
sha3-384
sha3-512
ripemd128
ripemd160
ripemd256
ripemd320
whirlpool
tiger128,3
tiger160,3
tiger192,3
tiger128,4
tiger160,4
tiger192,4
snefru
snefru256
gost
gost-crypto
haval128,3
haval160,3
haval192,3
haval224,3
haval256,3
haval128,4
haval160,4
haval192,4
haval224,4
haval256,4
haval128,5
haval160,5
haval192,5
haval224,5
haval256,5

Encryption for Contact Form 7