Cryptography &
The JCE
Presented by
Geoff Whittington,
Fireball Technology Group
Cryptography
The science of securing information.
Presentation Outline
Motivation
Language, Concepts
Overview of Java Cryptography Extension
Implementation comments
A Few Interesting Books
Useful Internet Resources
Motivation for Cryptography
Increased reliance on electronic systems
Increased system infestation
Increased monitoring
Increased value of information
Cryptography
Definitions
The Setup
Symmetric Systems
Hash Functions
Message Authentication Codes (MAC)
Asymmetric Systems
Hybrid Systems
Electronic Signatures
Definitions
Secret Key – shared piece of secret information
used to protect a larger set of data.
Encrypt –scramble data with a secret key into a
hard-to-understand format.
Decrypt – scramble encrypted data into readable
using a secret key.
Cryptographic algorithm – Description of how
a secret key is utilized to scramble information.
Definitions cont’d...
Plaintext (aka Cleartext) – The information to
be secured.
Ciphertext – The scrambled/unreadable
information after an encryption process is
performed.
The Setup
1. Alice wants to securely send Bob a secret
2. Bob wants to be sure information came from
Alice
Info
Alice Bob
Eve
Symmetric Cryptography
Secret Cipher Secret
text
Alice Bob
Eve
Security provider architecture
Symmetric Algorithms
Substitution and transposition using a secret key
to obscure the plaintext into ciphertext.
Fast to implement in software and hardware
Problem: Secret key used for encryption and
decryption must be known.
Examples: RC5, DES, 3DES, Blowfish, AES
Hash Functions
One way operation on information that results
in smaller set of data, called a message digest.
MD5 and SHA-1 are hash functions.
Considered secure when it is computationally
infeasible to find two input data with the same
message digest.
Secure hash functions are used in electronic
signatures.
MACs
Message Authentication Codes provide an
authentication scheme in symmetric-based
cryptographic protocols.
Document
MAC
Hash and encrypt
MACs cont’d...
Produces an encrypted message digest with a secret key.
Alice sends Bob a document as well as a MAC. Bob
can authenticate who sent the document by performing
the same MAC on the document and comparing his
MAC to the one that Alice sent. If they match, he
knows that Alice sent the document.
Problem: Secret key must be established and known
only to Alice and Bob.
Example: message digests
use class to get instance
of algorithm
Asymmetric Cryptography
Utilizes two keys: One private to an individual, and
another public to the world.
An individual shares his public key to a Trusted Third
Party (TTP)
Alice can securely send Bob information by encrypting
it with Bob’s public key retrieved from the TTP. Only
Bob’s private key will decrypt the information.
Useful for establishing secure channels in an insecure
environment: PGP & SSL.
Examples: RSA, ElGamal, and ECC
Asymmetric Cryptography cont’d…
Based on ‘hard’ math problems
Sharing public keys require a public-key
infrastructure (PKI) – retrieving, adding and
revoking keys
Trust is paramount
Asymmetric keys must be much larger than
symmetric keys
Hybrid Systems
Asymmetric cryptosystems are used for
establishing secure channels
With an established secure channel, Alice can
exchange a symmetric secret key with Bob and
engage in a secure conversation using a
symmetric cipher.
Electronic Signatures
Alice can sign a document by using her private
key. Bob can authenticate her signature by using
her public key.
Alice signs a document by first hashing it using a
secure hash function (SHA-1).
The Digital Signature Standard (DSS) is a
standard means of signing documents
Java Cryptography Extension
JCE bundled with the SDK in 2002.
Subject to US export restrictions.
Built on top of java.security and javax.crypto
The JCE is a pluggable technology – allowing different
implementations from many providers.
Useful classes are:
SecretKeyFactory
Cipher
SealedObject
KeyGenerator
KeyAgreement
Mac
SecureRandom
JCE Providers
Open source providers are Cryptix and Bouncy
Castle.
Plugging-in
modifying java.security file.
Use code to add a provider
Example:
import cryptix.jce.provider.CryptixCrypto;
Provider cryptix_provider = new CryptixCrypto();
int result=Security.addProvider(cryptix_provider);
JCE - SecretKeyFactory
Generates SecretKey instances for use with a symmetric
cipher.
Useful when the secret key has already been established.
Supported SecretKey instances are dependent on the
ones offered by the installed JCE providers.
Example:
byte[] secretKey = “SecrtKey”.getBytes();
DESKeySpec desKeySpec = new DESKeySpec( secretKey );
SecretKeyFactory factory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance(“DES”);
SecretKey sk = factory.generateSecret( desKeySpec );
JCE – Cipher
Cipher does the work of encryption and decryption
A Cipher is instantiated using the Cipher.getInstance factory
method
Associated with a transformation name in the format,
algorithm/mode/padding
Can operate within four modes: encrypt, decrypt, key wrap, key
unwrap.
Must be initialized using a specified mode, and secret key
information.
Example:
Cipher c = Cipher.getInstance(“DES”);
c.init( Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, secretKey );
byte[] plaintext = “The time has come for action.”.getBytes();
byte[] ciphertext = c.doFinal ( plaintext );
JCE - SealedObject
Great for securely persisting objects which can
be serialized.
Instantiated with a Cipher object and a
serializeable object.
Any algorithm parameters used by the Cipher
object are stored in the SealedObject for easy
decryption.
Unsealing requires either the same Cipher object
used for sealing or the associated secret key.
JCE - KeyGenerator
The KeyGenerator class solves the problem of Alice or Bob
having to come up with their own secret key. It will create one
for them.
Symmetric algorithms have their own specific weak keys. Users
who use weak keys open their communication to known exploits.
For example, a weak key for DES is:
0000000 FFFFFFF
Uses a random number generator, a key size, and a target
cryptographic algorithm (like ‘DES’) to generate an acceptable
key for the developer.
Example:
KeyGenerator kg = KeyGenerator.getInstance(“DES”);
kg.init(56);
SecretKey sk = kg.generateKey();
Java support for cryptography
Keys
Certificates
Key management
Message digests
Secure message digests
Digital signatures
Encryption & decryption
Keys & certificates: recap
Two kinds of keys:
secret (symmetric)
public/private (asymmetric)
Certificates can be used to authenticate public
keys:
Public keys usually transmitted as part of a
certificate
Issues
Key management and storage
Self-certification?
Hierarchy of trust
Generation and import/export of
keys
java.security.KeyPairGenerator
java.security.KeyFactory
javax.crypto.KeyGenerator
javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory
Key key specification
generator Eg P=3, Q=4, …
factory
encoded
Key KeyPair key data
The Key class hierarchies: a
partial view
java.security.Key java.security.interfaces.DSAKey
PublicKey PrivateKey java.crypto.SecretKey
DSAPublicKey DSAPrivateKey
RSAPublicKey RSAPrivateKey
RSAPrivateKeyCrt java.security.KeyPair
Why so many?
Certain algorithms require methods to access
key generation parameters for export
DSAKey: methods getP(), getQ(), getG()
Certain algorithms have specific roles
DHKey: Diffie-Hellman key exchange
Example: generate/export key
pair
Source: Oaks (2001)
Encryption Example
Generate random SecretKey
KeyGenerator gen = KeyGenerator.getInstance(“DES”);
SecretKey key = gen.generateKey();
Create and initialize a Cipher
Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance(“DES”, “SunJCE”);
cipher.init( Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, key);
Perform encryption
byte[] plaintext = “the time has come”.getBytes();
byte[] ciphertext = c.doFinal( plaintext );
JCE - KeyAgreement
Lets Alice and Bob establish a secret key in an insecure
environment.
Utilizes an asymmetric system. A developer must choose the key
agreement algorithm. (i.e. Diffie-Hellman)
The ‘generateSecret’ method returns the established secret key
The ‘doPhase’ method performs the exchange
Example:
KeyAgreement ka = KeyAgreement.getInstance(“DH”);
ka..init( alicePrivateKey );
ka..doPhase( bobPublicKey, true );
byte[] secret = ka.generateSecret();
JCE - SecureRandom
Random numbers are important to security
{JRE}\lib\security\java.security names the
default random number generator URL,
file:/dev/random
Implementation
Follow standards and recommend key sizes
blessed by the cryptographic community.
Peer review a design and its implementation.
Avoid writing protocols from scratch
JCE offers no silver bullet.
Implementation
Java makes no guarantee when an object is
released from memory, even when calling
System.gc()
Minimize copies of the sensitive information
Wipe your StringBuffer instances
The paranoid ought to consider JNI
A Few Interesting Books
General Cryptography
Applied Cryptography 2nd Edition, Bruce Schneier.
Mathematical
Cryptography: Theory and Practice, Douglas
Stinson.
Security in General
Information Warfare and Security, Dorothy E.
Denning
Useful Internet Resources
JCE Providers
Cryptix http://www.cryptix.org
Bouncy Castle http://www.bouncycastle.org
URLs
Sun’s Online Developer Community
http://java.sun.com/
Sun Crypto Reference Guide
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/security/CryptoSpec.ht
ml
Sun’s JCE Reference Guide
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/security/jce/JCERefGui
de.html
Schneier.com – http://schneier.com
Newgroups
sci.crypt
