JCA/JCE API Overview

The purpose of this appendix is to provide an introduction to the Java APIs that provide security and cryptographic services. These are known as the Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA) and Java Cryptography Extensions (JCE).

While reading this document, it is suggested you have both the JCA/JCE API documentation at hand. The JCA documentation can be found in the Java release or online at: http://docs.oracle.com/

JCE documentation is currently available at http://docs.oracle.com/.

Finally, SafeNet ProtectToolkit-J includes a detailed reference manual detailing the specific algorithms included, and the various parameters they accept.  It also includes some extensions to the base JCA/JCE API.

This document assumes the reader is familiar with the Java programming language. It contains the following chapters:

>Encryption/Decryption

>Message Digests

>Message Authentication Code (MAC)

>Authentication

>Key Management

>Error Handling and Exceptions