James H. Wong

Designing and implementing a hybrid encryption application is a big challenge but without a supporting infrastructure it's almost impossible. There are open source libraries that allow you to encrypt a file but only provide the translation technique. After the information has been encrypted, how do you know what algorithm was used, who you encrypted it, what version did you used, etc. In order to decrypt the protected message or file, a well-defined cryptographic header provides all the information required. This also applies if the encrypted data is digitally signed and the recipient wants to validate the signature. This article will address one of the critical components of a support infrastructure by providing a design of a cryptographic header used to precede encrypted and/or digitally signed messages and files. The header is used within an application known as... (more)

Java Cryptography | Part 3

After you have secured your private electronic information using encryption and learned how to encrypt and digitally sign files for others, how do you extract the information and determine who encrypted the file? Asymmetric public/private key encryption allows you to decipher the information and verify the accompanying digital signature if it exists. This article illustrates how to decrypt and verify the digital signature on files encrypted using a hybrid combination of asymmetric public/private key encryption and symmetric encryption. A symmetric key is used to encrypt the file... (more)

Java Cryptography | Part 2

In today's environment, information security is crucial for everyone. Security needs vary widely from protecting social security numbers to guarding corporate strategy. Information espionage can occur at all levels. A human resources employee or manager takes employee personnel files home to work on them and unfortunately loses them or they get stolen. An employee's notes to a supervisor regarding a case are intercepted and read via monitoring software by an outside hacker. The resulting damages can be costly and could be avoided by protecting assets with encryption technology. ... (more)