CBManager – Linux:
Use Case:
The CBManager is the core application for the use of the SCSC CodeBook system. This application is required to be able to use the system as it is needed to generate one or more codebooks for your team to use. Only one CBManager license is required, but more can be acquired if you want multiple people or departments to be able to generate their own CodeBook Groups.
CodeBook Terms:
-
- CodeBook – A CodeBook is used to encrypt your message in such a way that an “outside” should not be able to read your message. Our CodeBook system uses a proprietary system to encrypt your messages.
- Group – A group is a CodeBook name that you can use to say “Sales” is using this code book. Marketing can have their own as _Mark, etc. Naming group names require a length of five (5) characters, such as Sales, sales, _mark, Team1, etc.
Installation:
Installation on a Linux box, any flavor, is easy. From your home directory, create a director for the program.
ex: mkdir CBManager
From your Download Directory (assuming you downloaded the file from your web browser) move the CBManager file you downloaded to your newly created directory. Open a terminal and type:
mv Download/CBManager CBManager/
cd CBManager
chmod 770 CBManager
Then type ./CBManager and the program will walk you through initial setup and initialization. You are good to go at that point!
Creating CodeBooks:
From the main menu click type 1. You will be prompted for a five digit group name for your new codebook. This MUST be five (5) characters long and can be UPPER, lower, numeric (12345), and may include an underscore _.
For example: _Main or Sales or _Mark or Mark_
You will then be prompted one at a time for 20 words, one per line, that are important to your business or needs. This can be any word up to 20 characters, UPPER or lower case, such as:
Don, Doctor, actor, cash, bank, etc.
Exporting CodeBooks:
Exporting a CodeBook begins the process of creating a protected zip file to send to the end users (CBCient, or even other CBManager users) by typing option 2 from the main menu. You will be prompted for the “Group” to send and the system will create a protected zip file that will show up in your CBManager/ directory called CodeBook.zip. You can then email, thumb drive or otherwise give the file to your end users that will be using that CodeBook.
Importing CodeBooks:
If another CBManager user sends you a CodeBook for use with them, you would place the CodeBook.zip file in your CBManager/ directory and use the menu option 3 to Import to bring it into your system. (ie: From your home directory:
mv Downloads/CodeBook.zip CBManager/
cd ~/CBManager
run ./CBManager
Then select the option to import a CodeBook.
Creating a Message:
You are now ready to create your first message. You can first type 4 from the main menu and see a list of all of your CodeBooks that are available to you. Or you can go straight to option 5 where you will be prompted for the CodeBook to use. After entering it, you will be “sent” to VI to create your message to the recipient(s). Start writing by clicking i. When you are finished editing the file, click on the escape key, then : then wq! <enter> and you are back to the menu.
Encrypting a Message File:
Once you have your message created and are ready to encrypt it and send it to someone, you will type option 6. This will then read in your message, and save it as a doubly encrypted file as YYYYMMDDHHMM.emsg which is the yearmonthday24hourminute.emsg in the messages directory. This file is never deleted unless YOU delete it outside of the program. Your original message is deleted when you encrypt it to send it out. Until you encrypt it, the original, unencrypted message stays on your system, so is a potential security risk, so encrypt it as soon as you are done writing it!
Decrypting a Message File:
When you receive an encrypted message from someone, you are ready to decrypt it by typing 7, where you will be given a list of encrypted messages, type in the name of the message file you wish to decrypt and it will decrypt it and put it up on your screen inside of vi. When you exit the message (<esc> :q!) the decrypted message will be deleted, but not the encrypted message.