Every now and then one needs to secure communications between parties. Some would say it is necessary to do that all the time and perhaps it is. The issues are the complexity and expense. The complexity comes from having to configure a bunch of tools to support things like encryption and digital signatures for more then a single party. The expense comes from typically having to purchase cryptographic instruments from well known Certification Authorities, and keep on purchasing them all over again every 1 or 2 years. This discussion introduces a class library that offers a set of simple methods for constructing and sending secure electronic mail using the Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME), the Bounce Castle Cryptographic Libraries and the Java programming language. The intent is to allow a Java CAPS developer, or a Java developer, to add Secure Electronic Mail functionality quickly and easily, and without having to make too much of a time investment learning about PKI-based security and related matters. This addresses the complexity issue. The expense issue is addressed in my Blog Entry, “Producing Free, Private X.509 Certificates for use with PKI-based Solutions”, at http://blogs.sun.com/javacapsfieldtech/entry/producing_free_private_x_509. That blog discusses how to roll out a private Certification Authority and obtain X.509 Certificates., and other cryptographic objects, for free.
This document discusses the use of cryptographic software and manipulation of cryptographic objects. Using or discussing cryptography software is illegal in some parts of the world. It is you responsibility to ensure that you comply with any import/export and use laws that apply to you.
SendingSecureEMailUsingJavaCAPS.pdf
The ZIP archive, referenced in the document, is SecMail_and_extra_libs.zip
Reference is also made to the article “Producing Free, Private X.509 Certificates for use with PKI-based Solutions”.
