What Is Key Encoding?

This section describes private and public key encoding standards: PKCS#8 is used for encoding private keys and X.509 is used for encoding public keys.

What is Key Encoding? Key encoding is the process of converting encryption and decryption keys, or private and public keys, into a specific encoding format for storing them in files or transmitting them to remote systems.

As you can see from the previous chapter, JDK supports two commonly used key encoding standards:

To manage different key encoding standards, JDK offers a group of classes:

See next sections on how to use these key encoding classes.

Table of Contents

 About This JDK Tutorial Book

 JDK (Java Development Kit)

 Java Date-Time API

 Date, Time and Calendar Classes

 Date and Time Object and String Conversion

 Number Object and Numeric String Conversion

 Locales, Localization Methods and Resource Bundles

 Calling and Importing Classes Defined in Unnamed Packages

 HashSet, Vector, HashMap and Collection Classes

 Character Set Encoding Classes and Methods

 Character Set Encoding Maps

 Encoding Conversion Programs for Encoded Text Files

 Java Logging

 Socket Network Communication

 Datagram Network Communication

 DOM (Document Object Model) - API for XML Files

 SAX (Simple API for XML)

 DTD (Document Type Definition) - XML Validation

 XSD (XML Schema Definition) - XML Validation

 XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language)

 Message Digest Algorithm Implementations in JDK

 Private key and Public Key Pair Generation

PKCS#8/X.509 Private/Public Encoding Standards

What Is Key Encoding?

 PKCS#8 and X.509 Key Encoding Classes

 java.security.KeyFactory - Reading Encoded Keys

 JcaKeyFactoryTest.java - Key Factory Test Program

 Reading DSA Private and Public Key Files

 Reading RSA Private and Public Key Files

 Digital Signature Algorithm and Sample Program

 "keytool" Commands and "keystore" Files

 KeyStore and Certificate Classes

 Secret Key Generation and Management

 Cipher - Encryption and Decryption

 The SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Protocol

 SSL Socket Communication Testing Programs

 SSL Client Authentication

 HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)

 Outdated Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB