Sharing session data between two applications (Rails)

Question

There is an existing application that a user logs into. At a certain point within the existing user workflow the new application I am working on takes over for the existing application and some data from the current session needs to be shared. I was given an idea of digitally signing the data to ensure it is secure, but I am having trouble figuring out how I would implement this and how to share the session. The application I am working on is a rails app.

My question really contains two parts, if you have an idea for one and not the other, that's great:

1) Do you have an idea on how I would share the session between both applications?

2) Would you have an idea on how I would use public/private keys to encrypt the data I am sending?

Answer 1

You can use RubyCAS for manage sessions between applications. It's easy to use and you can integrate it with Devise.

https://github.com/rubycas/rubycas-client

https://github.com/nbudin/devise_cas_authenticatable