Can you send an API secret key if it is encrypted?

Question

Very basic question... Trying to figure this out before I go back to work tomorrow, so unfortunately I do not have access to my Powershell script, but I will post it tomorrow if I don't figure it out.

I have created a text file containing my encrypted API secret key. When I send the GET request with my key hardcoded in the application, it works as expected. However, when I store the encrypted key in a variable and then attempt the GET request using that variable, I get an error saying it cannot authenticate the key. Is this because I have to decrypt it before I send it?

Update:

Still unclear on how to solve this. Concerned about vulnerabilities if I decrypt the key within my script.

$key = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential - 
argumentlist $keyFile.username, $keyFile.password 
$secret = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential - 
argumentlist $secretFile.username, $secretFile.password 


$tc='[{"data":"pdnsBlah.domaincontrol.com","name":"- 
","ttl":9999,"type":"NS"}, 
{"data":"pdnsBlah.domaincontrol.com","name":"-","ttl":9999,"type":"NS"}]'

# Event log settings
$eventLog = "Application"
$eventSource = "GoDaddyDNSMonitor"

#check to see if event source exists, if not create one
if (![System.Diagnostics.EventLog]::SourceExists($eventSource))
{
New-EventLog -LogName $eventLog -Source $eventSource

}



#Here is where my issue lies########################################
$newConfig=C:\Users\di203179\Documents\Curl\bin\curl.exe -s -X GET -H 
"Authorization: sso-key $key`:$secret" 
https://api.godaddy.com/...
If ($tc -ne $newConfig)
{
    $Message = "DNS Nameserver @ GoDaddy has changed to " + $newConfig + " 
Application Infrastructure On-call needs to be paged. Details are below."
    Write-EventLog -LogName $eventLog -Source $eventSource -EventID 20000 - 
EntryType Error -Message $Message
    echo "false"
}
else {

    echo "true"
}

Thanks for your help and patience.

Answer 1

Alright, so I figured out the issue. Many thanks to those who commented and got me past my first hurdle. Definitely couldn't send an encrypted file to the sever and apparently, many servers do not know how to handle PSCredential objects.

Details here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/heyscriptingguy/2013/03/26/decrypt-powershell-secure-string-password/

And here is how I solved it.

$keyObject = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential - 
argumentlist $keyFile.username, $keyFile.password 
$secretObject = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential - 
argumentlist $secretFile.username, $secretFile.password

$newConfig=C:\Users\di203179\Documents\Curl\bin\curl.exe -s -X GET -H "Authorization: 
sso-key 

$($keyObject.GetNetworkCredential().Password):$($secretObject.GetNetworkCredential().Password)" https://api.godaddy.com/... ...