title: MySQL Column for Encryption
body: <p>I need to build a small private app. I want to store a piece of personally identifiable information (it's an internal account number -- not an SSN or anything like super-sensitive) in a table that "encrypts" it.</p>
  
  <p>I put encrypts in quotes because I wish the data to be stored as follows:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>stored in a way that if someone physically looked at the table data the piece of info would not be discernible</li>
  <li>stored in a way that if someone did a simple query select the resulting data output would not not be discernible</li>
  <li>yet when I write my own query select statement I can still decrypt the data and present it in a readable fashion</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>In other words, I want it only moderately encrypted so that I can still decrypt it and read it. I know MD5 hashing locks the value from ever being read. I want something less than that.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>