public boolean isEncrypted(String statFilePath) {
        // quick read of metadata to look for MAC; needs improvment
        try {
            SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
            File statFile = new File(statFilePath);

            Document document = (Document) builder.build(statFile);
            Element rootNode = document.getRootElement();

            try {
                Element meta = rootNode.getChild("metadata");

                if (meta == null) {
                    throw new ProjectStoreException("No metadata tag found");
                }
                
                String tag = meta.getChildText("encrypted");
                return (tag != null && !tag.isEmpty());
                
            } catch (ProjectStoreException w) {
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,
                        "Invalid .stat project file. " + w.getMessage(),
                        "Error opening project",
                        JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
            }
        } catch (Exception w) {
            w.printStackTrace();
            System.exit(1);
        }
        return false;
    }