diff --git a/app/Models/Asset.php b/app/Models/Asset.php
index ecf1b1332..e0c0f45ef 100644
--- a/app/Models/Asset.php
+++ b/app/Models/Asset.php
@@ -12,11 +12,13 @@ use App\Presenters\Presentable;
 use App\Presenters\AssetPresenter;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
 use Carbon\Carbon;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Crypt;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Validator;
 use Watson\Validating\ValidatingTrait;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Casts\Attribute;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
@@ -213,14 +215,15 @@ class Asset extends Depreciable
         $this->attributes['expected_checkin'] = $value;
     }
 
-    public function withValidator($validator)
-    {
-        foreach ($this->customFields as $field) {
-            if ($field->isEncrypted()) {
-                Crypt::decrypt($this->value);
-            }
-        }
-    }
+    // i don't think this will work the way we'd need it to
+    //public function withValidator(Validator $validator)
+    //{
+    //    foreach ($this->customFields as $field) {
+    //        if ($field->field_encrypted) {
+    //            return Crypt::decrypt($this->value);
+    //        }
+    //    }
+    //}
 
     /**
      * This handles the custom field validation for assets
diff --git a/app/Models/CustomFieldset.php b/app/Models/CustomFieldset.php
index c286005bf..1059c5d5f 100644
--- a/app/Models/CustomFieldset.php
+++ b/app/Models/CustomFieldset.php
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 namespace App\Models;
 
+use App\Rules\AlphaEncrypted;
+use App\Rules\NumericEncrypted;
 use Gate;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
@@ -92,13 +94,20 @@ class CustomFieldset extends Model
                     $rule[] = 'unique_undeleted';
             }
 
-            if ($field->hasFormat() && $field->isEncrypted()) {
-                $rule[] = $rule.'-encrypted';
-            }
-
             array_push($rule, $field->attributes['format']);
             $rules[$field->db_column_name()] = $rule;
 
+
+            if ($field->format === 'NUMERIC' && $field->field_encrypted) {
+                $numericKey = array_search('numeric', $rules[$field->db_column_name()]);
+                $rules[$field->db_column_name()][$numericKey] = new NumericEncrypted;
+            }
+
+            if ($field->format === 'ALPHA' && $field->field_encrypted) {
+                $alphaKey = array_search('alpha', $rules[$field->db_column_name()]);
+                $rules[$field->db_column_name()][$alphaKey] = new AlphaEncrypted;
+            }
+
             // add not_array to rules for all fields but checkboxes
             if ($field->element != 'checkbox') {
                 $rules[$field->db_column_name()][] = 'not_array';
@@ -113,6 +122,8 @@ class CustomFieldset extends Model
             }
         }
 
+        dump($rules);
+
         return $rules;
     }
 }
diff --git a/app/Rules/AlphaEncrypted.php b/app/Rules/AlphaEncrypted.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..246d92f0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/Rules/AlphaEncrypted.php
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace App\Rules;
+
+use Closure;
+use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\ValidationRule;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Crypt;
+
+class AlphaEncrypted implements ValidationRule
+{
+    /**
+     * Run the validation rule.
+     *
+     * @param  \Closure(string): \Illuminate\Translation\PotentiallyTranslatedString  $fail
+     */
+    public function validate(string $attribute, mixed $value, Closure $fail): void
+    {
+        try {
+            $decrypted = Crypt::decrypt($value);
+            dump($decrypted);
+            if (!ctype_alpha($decrypted)) {
+                $fail($attribute.' is not numeric.');
+            }
+        } catch (\Exception $e) {
+            $fail($e->getMessage());
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/app/Rules/NumericEncrypted.php b/app/Rules/NumericEncrypted.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f36c4174e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/Rules/NumericEncrypted.php
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace App\Rules;
+
+use Closure;
+use Illuminate\Contracts\Encryption\DecryptException;
+use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\ValidationRule;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Crypt;
+
+class NumericEncrypted implements ValidationRule
+{
+    /**
+     * Run the validation rule.
+     *
+     * @param  \Closure(string): \Illuminate\Translation\PotentiallyTranslatedString  $fail
+     */
+    public function validate(string $attribute, mixed $value, Closure $fail): void
+    {
+        try {
+            $value = Crypt::decrypt($value);
+            if (!is_numeric($value)) {
+                $fail($attribute.' is not numeric.');
+            }
+        } catch (\Exception $e) {
+            $fail($e->getMessage());
+        }
+    }
+}