I need to be able to generate a public/private key pair to use for encryption and decryption. I also need to be able to store these keys in files.
I have tried using Cryptix JCE to generate RSA keys, but I can't figure out how to retrieve the private key in a file. Can anyone help me out?
If someone has a suggestion other that Cryptix, let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Liz
The Wrox press book "Professional Java Security" from Garms and Somerfield has some samples. The code is at http://www.wrox.com/Books/Book_down.asp?sub_section=1&isbn=1861004257&subject=Java&subject_id=13
Click the paragraph (one big link) to download. It's a good book -- I recommend it.
If you simply want to store raw keys to files, you can always just write the byte[] returned by key.getEncoded() to a file. Be aware, however, that you must restrict who has read access to that file for the private key. The book gives an example of how to do this securely.
Also, check out www.bouncycastle.org for another open source JCE provider.
HTH,
Matthew
Thanks.
I have tried writing the keys out like this:
Privatekey priv = keypair.getprivate();
byte [] keyTemp = priv.getEncoded();
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("private.prk");
out.write(keyTemp);
out.close();
But how do I read it back in?
Liz
If I try writing the key to file using byte [] keyTemp = priv.getEncoded();
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("private.prk");
out.write(keyTemp);
out.close();
I can't read it in using, ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(keyname));
PrivateKey privateKey =(PrivateKey)in.readObject();
in.close();
Here I get a "java.io.StreamCorruptedException: InputStream does not contain a serialized object"
exception.
I also tried wrting the key to a file using PrivateKey priv = keypair.getPrivate();
ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("private.prk"));
out.writeObject(priv);
I can read it in with the above code without getting an exception, but when I try to use it to decrypt or anything, I get a Null Pointer Exception. The key returned from the file is not null, I've check many, many times.
The thing is, this method works fine for the public key. Only the private key causes problems. Please help.
Liz