Package net.rim.device.api.crypto
Overview
This document contains overview, reference and tutorial information relating to the RIM Crypto API. It is intended for developers with experience using Java and at least a brief or conceptial knowledge of cryptography. For additional information about Cryptography, see below.
The RIM Crypto API is a collection of classes that allows you to provide effective security for your BlackBerry custom application regardless of its scope or complexity. The API is very robust and flexible so that you can accomplish each task in a number of different ways, depending on the needs of your application.
Using the Crypto, API you can accomplish the following tasks:
- Encrypt and decrypt data
- Digitally sign and verify data (secure the integrity of your data)
- Authenticate data
It is this flexibility that makes the Crypto API effective on a number of different levels. The RIM Cryptography API consists of several components:
The above diagram displays the Crypto API as a system of smaller APIs.
The Secure Messaging API contains the CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax) API and provides the functionality needed to create a secure messaging application. The Secure Connection API contains the TLS (Transport Layer Security), WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer Security), and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) APIs and provides the functionality required to create and manage secure connections between client and server. Together, these two APIs define the protocol functionality since they contain the code necessary for implementing secure communication.
The Key Management API contains the basic cryptographic framework needed to create secure applications. Key management and distribution are handled by the KeyStore API, while keys are encoded using the Encoding API. The Certificate API contains the functionality necessary for managing cryptographic certificates. The OID (Object Identifier) API contains the functionality necessary for handling and using some popular Object IDs. The ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation) API provides a mechanism to format and parse data that is commonly needed with cryptographic schemes and protocols.
At the lowest level, the Cryptographic Primitives API contains the most basic tools needed to implement the cryptographic utilities. This API contains the keys, MACS (Message Authentication Codes), ciphers and other functionality associated with both symmetric and public cryptography. In addition, this API contains the "unkeyed" algorithms such as digests and PRNGs (Pseudo Random Number Generators) needed by other members in the API.
The API was intended for use by all developers who are trying to incorporate security into their applications, regardless of their knowledge of security concepts or low level programming. The API can be used to provide security for any project no matter the size or complexity. This is accomplished by implementing flexible cryptography algorithms that can be implemented in a number of different ways. For example, the Crypto API contains a variety of encryption algorithms that can be implemented individually as a low level algorithm or as part of a larger, more customized process. This process is encapsulated within an object called a factory. By incorporating the various levels of granularity into the API, the system becomes extremely customizable and extremely flexible.
The RIM Crypto API was developed internally by RIM.The CLDC (Connected Limited Device Configuration) and MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) of J2ME (Java 2 Platform Micro Edition) do not define a cryptographic API. In creating the API, RIM chose not to follow the java.security model for the following reasons:
- As an embedded device, there is little room for multiple
cryptographic algorithm providers.
- To simplify embedded development, compile time type checking is preferred over runtime type checking.
API Reference
The Crypto API Class Reference provides a table containing a brief description of all members in the API. This is the original entry page of the API documentation and can be used to navigate to classes within the API.
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Extending the Crypto API
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The crypto API was developed to provide developers with the means necessary to design and create secure software for the BlackBerry Handheld.
It was intended for use by all developers who are trying to incorporate security into their applications, regardless of their knowledge of security concepts or low level programming. The API can be used to provide security for any project no matter the size or complexity.
To compliment this inherent flexibility, developers can extend the API by implementing their own cryptographic algorithms, encoding schemes, certificates and software tokens. This way, custom cryptographic solutions can be even more flexible.
To learn more about extending the crypto API, and to access the documentation for the relevant classes, see the Extending the Crypto API Javadocs.
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Tutorials
This series of tutorials tells you how to use the common features
and components provided in the Crypto API.
| Title | Description |
- Overview of cryptography
| This tutorial provides a brief overview and introduction to Cryptography. |
- Getting started with the crypto
API
| This is a quick start lesson. It talks about the
structure of the Crypto API and some of the most commonly asked questions. |
- Keys, cryptoSystems, certificates and keyStores
| This tutorial provides a lesson on how keys work and describes why they are an integral part of the Crypto
API. The lesson then covers cryptosystems and how they work in the Crypto API.
Finally, the lesson finishes with introductions on certificates and keystores
which are provided outside of the Crypto API but are intended to work with the
API. |
- Encrypting and decrypting data
| This tutorial describes the most common uses of the RIM Crypto API. The tutorial demonstrates encrypting and decrypting data using the Crypto API by providing a walk through of a sample application:CryptoSample.java. |
- Block ciphers
| This is a comprehensive lesson on how to use the
block ciphers. This includes using the "engines" concept provided in the
Crypto API and the "encryptor/decryptor" concept for streaming block ciphers
together. The block ciphers lesson explains how to use common algorithms such
as DES, AES and other block ciphers. |
- Stream ciphers
| This tutorial is a comprehensive lesson on how to use
the stream ciphers provided with the Crypto API. This includes an introduction
to such topics as RandomSource, PseudoRandomSource and modes for block ciphers
that act as streams, such as OFB (Output Feedback Mode). |
- Encryptor and decryptor factories
| This tutorial demonstrates how to use factories to encrypt and decrypt data. |
- Key agreement
| This tutorial provides an introduction
to the concept of key agreement within the Crypto API and several of the
common algorithms available. |
- Key encoders
| This tutorial demonstrates how key encoding
is accomplished in the Crypto API. This includes private keys, public keys, and
the PKCS8 and X.509 encoding schemes. |
- Digests and MACs
| This is a lesson on how to use the digests
and Message Authentication Codes (MACs) that are provided by the Crypto API.
The lesson describes the common uses of digests and the MACs provided. |
- Signatures
| This is a lesson
on how to use the Signature functionality that is provided by the Crypto API.
This lesson covers the concepts of SignatureSigners and SignatureVerifiers,
including the idea of signing engines. The encoding of signatures is also covered here. |
- Encoders
| This tutorial is a description of the encoding shemes
that this API supports. The Signature, Public Key, and Private Key encoders are
all detailed in it. |
- Securing the RuntimeStore
| This tutorial demonstrates the steps involved in securely adding items to the RuntimeStore, and retrieving items from the RuntimeStore. |
For more information on cryptography
Two good books on the subject are:
- Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneier. This is a very readable book, and explains the important
concepts without getting into too much mathematical detail.
- The Handbook of Applied Cryptography by Menezes, Van Oorschot, and Vanstone. This is the
reference book on cryptography, with all the mathematical details.
Feedback
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