← Encoding, Hashing, HMAC & Encryption
Encoding is reversible by anyone
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Encoding is not encryption
Base64 turns arbitrary bytes into 64 "safe" printable characters (A–Z a–z 0–9 + /, with
= as padding) so binary data can travel through text-only channels: HTTP headers, JSON,
YAML, email. It has no key, so anyone can reverse it.
printf 'deploy:prod' | base64 # ZGVwbG95OnByb2Q=
printf 'ZGVwbG95OnByb2Q=' | base64 -d # deploy:prod
That's why a Kubernetes Secret or an HTTP Authorization: Basic … header protects
nothing on its own: the value is base64, and anyone who sees it can decode it. Use
printf, not echo. echo appends a newline, and that newline gets encoded too.
Your task
Base64-encode the exact string deploy:prod (no trailing newline) and print the result. Then decode that base64 back and print the original.