Encryption and audit logging

How mclovinsaco protects stored client fields, manages encryption keys, and records administrative actions with user identifiers and IP addresses.

Sensitive profile fields are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage. Each encryption call draws a fresh random IV, so identical values never produce identical ciphertext.

Keys are held outside the autoloaded settings. The key is read from the MCL_DATA_KEY constant when defined, otherwise from a non-autoloaded option, so it is never loaded on every request.

Profile, invoice, and testimonial records are kept while an account stays active. Audit log entries are retained for review by administrators, who can check the action, user identifier, and IP address on each entry.