How can I create my own keys for the AES algorithm in Java?

Question

How can I create my own keys for encrypting a string using AES algorithm in Java instead of using

KeyGenerator kgen = KeyGenerator.getInstance("AES");

which creates a random key?

JB Nizet · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-18 13:29:31Z

4

By using a SecretKeySpec:

SecretKey key = new SecretKeySpec(bytes, "AES");

answered Feb 18, 2012 at 13:29

JB Nizet

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Comments

Shashank Kadne · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-18 13:52:15Z

2

kgen is not a key, actual key is your SecretKeySpec object. You can create your key using raw bytes...see the below example...

KeyGenerator kgen = KeyGenerator.getInstance("AES"); 
            kgen.init(128);
            byte raw[] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16};
            SecretKeySpec spec = new SecretKeySpec(raw, "AES");
            //SecretKey key = kgen.generateKey();
            //byte keybytes[] = key.getEncoded();
            //SecretKeySpec spec = new SecretKeySpec(keybytes, "AES");

edited Feb 18, 2012 at 13:52

answered Feb 18, 2012 at 13:28

Shashank Kadne

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2 Comments

Maarten Bodewes Over a year ago

Note that you can directly use SecretKeySpec as a key (it implements the SecretKey interface) if you have an algorithm that takes random bytes as a key. This is at least true for AES and DES ABC keys (for use in DESede), in the latter the parity bits are ignored. If you store a key as a field, I would still use the SecretKeyFactory to create a "fail fast" scenario.

Shashank Kadne Over a year ago

Ohk...thnks for the vital info..:)

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