Securely Connect MySQL via PHP in ActionScript 3 using AMFPHP framework

Question

My Flash movie would like communicate with MySQL server to fetch and save data between MySQL and SWF. I know AMFPHP can help with the communication, but is there a secure way to encrypt the texts sending between 2 sides (other than hashing password in MD5)? As far as I know, by default, AMFPHP sends out data in plain text.

Also, I heard that the CPU usage during network requests in Flash is quite high. Any lightweight framework suggestion?

Answer 1

I don't actually know much about AMFPHP but in general you should never send SQL queries from a client directly. No matter how good your encryption, someone can break it and then they can do whatever they want to your server.

You should create an API in PHP that the client can use to perform certain pre-defined safe actions on the DB, so if someone reverse-engineers your encryption (which, by the way, is extremely easy to do by decompiling your swf), they can only do things to the database that are allowed.