Java : Encryption and Decryption of Data using AES algorithm with example code

There are many problems when you try encrypting a string such password, credit card nos, phone no. etc ie
1. which algorithm to use.
2. how to store the generated Key in the database.
3. should i use MD5, AES etc.

Here is the question to all your answers. After spending sometime on this i finally got the best algorithm that a person can use to encrypt and decrypt data while he/she also wants to store those encrypted strings and later on want to decrypt it while retrieving the data.


Many people face problem while decrypting the encrypted data as the KEY used for encryption if stored as String in database then it becomes very tough to use that string as the KEY. So below is the code where you only need to store the encrypted code and not the  key. The decryption will take place as an when wanted.

For encryption we must use a secret key along with an algorithm. In the following example we use an algorithm called AES 128 and the bytes of the word "TheBestSecretKey" as the secret key (the best secret key we found in this world). AES algorithm can use a key of 128 bits (16 bytes * 8); so we selected that key.

package nomad;

import java.security.*;
import java.security.spec.InvalidKeySpecException;
import javax.crypto.*;
import sun.misc.*;

public class AESencrp {
    
     private static final String ALGO = "AES";
    private static final byte[] keyValue = 
        new byte[] { 'T', 'h', 'e', 'B', 'e', 's', 't',

'S', 'e', 'c', 'r','e', 't', 'K', 'e', 'y' };

public static String encrypt(String Data) throws Exception {
        Key key = generateKey();
        Cipher c = Cipher.getInstance(ALGO);
        c.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, key);
        byte[] encVal = c.doFinal(Data.getBytes());
        String encryptedValue = new BASE64Encoder().encode(encVal);
        return encryptedValue;
    }

    public static String decrypt(String encryptedData) throws Exception {
        Key key = generateKey();
        Cipher c = Cipher.getInstance(ALGO);
        c.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, key);
        byte[] decordedValue = new BASE64Decoder().decodeBuffer(encryptedData);
        byte[] decValue = c.doFinal(decordedValue);
        String decryptedValue = new String(decValue);
        return decryptedValue;
    }
    private static Key generateKey() throws Exception {
        Key key = new SecretKeySpec(keyValue, ALGO);
        return key;
}

}

We use "generateKey()" method to generate a secret key for AES algorithm with a given key.

Below is the code how you can use the above encryption algorithm.

package nomad;

public class Checker {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        String password = "mypassword";
        String passwordEnc = AESencrp.encrypt(password);
        String passwordDec = AESencrp.decrypt(passwordEnc);

        System.out.println("Plain Text : " + password);
        System.out.println("Encrypted Text : " + passwordEnc);
        System.out.println("Decrypted Text : " + passwordDec);
    }
}

---

NOTE : 

I have got emails from user saying that the above code gives error when using in ECLIPSE. Error like :

Access restriction: The type BASE64Decoder is not accessible due to restriction on required library C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\rt.jar

So to avoid this do the following : 

* Go to Window-->Preferences-->Java-->Compiler-->Error/Warnings.

* Select Deprecated and Restricted API. Change it to warning.

* Change forbidden and Discouraged Reference and change it to warning. (or as your need.)

---

Note: 12-12-2013

One of our readers (Saurabh Moghel), has given a solution about some issue:

Issue: Issue Of Access Restriction

Solution: Removing JRE system Library then adding it back from Build Path settings in the project properties.