Tuesday 2 August 2011

Beginning Java Security on Android

Android provides all of the java security libraries in Java. Android provides cipher engine classes, Keystore, algorithms, public key cryptography, key generators and the like. The list of algorithms that are supported seems as in the java language updates. Some searching and trials may be needed on this. This is true for the simulator that comes with the android devices too. 


One difference is that, while the default security provider for java on desktops is SunJCE the one on android is bouncycastle. So the default keystore type is BKS rather than JKS. This was not so obvious at first but, a few trials showed that, the keystore was BKS and you can also have PKCS12 keystore. The rest is all the same except that, if you create a PKCS12 keystore you need to store an entry as a PKCS12 type/stream otherwise you get an exception asking for a PKCS12 type. 


Also, If the keystore path has a '.' anywhere in the path, storing the keystore throws exception. So if you stor your keystore at a location with your 'package folder' name for example 'com.myapp' it may result in exception. Removing the '.' character from the path name avoided this.

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