Python File Encryption

In this Python article we want to learn about Python File Encryption, one of the best usage of Python programming language is in file encryption. so first of all let’s talk about encryption, so encryption is the process of encoding a message or information, after encryption only authorized parties can access it. in this article we want to talk about Python file encryption and how it can be implemented.

Why Encrypt Files ?

Let’s talk that why we need to encrypt a file, so as you know that data breaches and hacks are becoming more common, and if we have sensitive information then that is at risk. encryption is a way of protecting data from unauthorized users, by encrypting we make the data unreadable to unauthorized parties. we can say that encrypting files is particularly important when the information contained in the file is sensitive, such as financial information or personal data.

Now let’s talk about Python File Encryption, Python provides several libraries for file encryption, including cryptography library and hashlib library.

Python Cryptography Library

The cryptography library provides functions for implementing symmetric and asymmetric encryption.

This is an example of using symmetric encryption, in this example we are using Fernet class from the cryptography library to generate a key and encrypt a file. we open the file in binary mode, read the file into memory and encrypted that with Fernet cipher, and then write the information to a new file.

from cryptography.fernet import Fernet

key = Fernet.generate_key()
cipher = Fernet(key)

with open('file_to_encrypt.txt', 'rb') as file:
    original = file.read()

encrypted = cipher.encrypt(original)

with open('encrypted_file.txt', 'wb') as encrypted_file:
    encrypted_file.write(encrypted)

from cryptography.fernet import Fernet

key = Fernet.generate_key()

cipher = Fernet(key)

with open('file_to_encrypt.txt', 'rb') as file:

original = file.read()

encrypted = cipher.encrypt(original)

with open('encrypted_file.txt', 'wb') as encrypted_file:

encrypted_file.write(encrypted)

Python Hashlib Library

The hashlib library provides functions for hashing data.

This is an example of using hashlib library to hash a file, in this example we are using hashlib library to create a SHA-256 hash of a file. after that the file is opened in binary mode, read the file into memory, hashed using SHA-256 algorithm and then written to a new file.

import hashlib

with open('file_to_hash.txt', 'rb') as file:
    original = file.read()

hash_object = hashlib.sha256(original)

with open('hashed_file.txt', 'wb') as hashed_file:
    hashed_file.write(hash_object.digest())