Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
This page answers many of the frequently asked questions about our CryptoSysTM range of products. Most answers are true generally for all products. If something is specific to a product it will be marked as follows
See the Product Feature Comparison for a comparison of the CryptoSys family of cryptographic software products.
With the VB6 and C interfaces, you need to make sure you've pre-dimensioned the string variable to receive the output data. There are instructions in the manual on how to do this. See Pre-dimensioning a String.
Please refer to our brief introductions to Using Keys in Cryptography and Using Padding in Encryption.
See a sample Visual Basic project showing how to encrypt variable-length strings 'properly' with a key derived from a text password using the PBKDF2 algorithm from PKCS #5 v2.0. The example uses AES-128 but could use any of the major encryption algorithms like Triple DES or Blowfish.
For more information about RSA keys and how they can be stored and the functions available in the Toolkit to handle them, see RSA Key Formats.
See FIPS-140 Validation.
All CryptoSys products use a simple Win32 DLLs that must be called in the same way as the Win32 API functions. They do not use ActiveX or COM. To call from an ASP page, you need an ActiveX DLL wrapper. There is an ActiveX Interface included with CryptoSys API which includes the full source code for the ActiveX DLL.
[API]: If you're using the free Personal version, the application will display a nag screen when first run or if not installed properly. IIS does not like this and gets upset, probably making you reboot. With CryptoSys API, you need to install the Server Trial Edition, not the Personal Edition. There should be no such problems with the Developer Edition.
Note that none of this is necessary if you are using a Licensed Version. A properly-written ActiveX DLL interface should just work, provided the program can find the core Win32 DLL file.
See Using CryptoSys API and CryptoSys PKI on a 64-bit system.
Yes, there are interfaces available for both CryptoSys API and the CryptoSys PKI Toolkit. The full VB.NET source code is available in both cases.
See CryptoSys API Examples VB6 to VB.NET.
Yes, see API C# Interface and PKI C# Interface The full C# source code is available in both cases.
Our CryptoSys products are aimed at developers who understand the basics of cryptography and can program to an intermediate to advanced level. The APIs have been designed to offer a choice in the methods you can use. For further help, please refer to the How To articles we've written, especially Using Padding in Encryption and Using Keys in Cryptography. See also sci.crypt FAQ.
See the answer to the previous question. The examples are provided to show the specifics of the function and, if possible, use a known test vector. If you don't understand what the examples are meant to be doing, you really shouldn't be using the product, certainly not to build a professional application. For more examples see API Examples and PKI Examples. (Yes, we did get asked this question.)
<PLUG> Go to our Kagi order page. </PLUG>
You will need the Licence ID issued to you when you first purchased the product. Go to the CryptoSys Home Page and follow the Licensed Users link for your particular product. If it keeps telling you you have entered the wrong LicenceID or "Invalid request", make sure you are attempting to download the correct product.
The Licence ID would have been in the original email sent to you by Kagi when you purchased the product. If you can't find that, send us an email giving your name, email address, company name and any other information that will help identify you as the purchaser like the approximate date of purchase.
<PLUG>If you use Outlook Express, try using our DBXanalyzer product to backup and manage your emails. Available from www.di-mgt.com.au/dbxanalyzer/.</PLUG>
Full instructions on distributing to end users are provided in the Developer Version download in the
file called distrib.txt. Distribution to end users is very simple and you do not need to use our setup program.
Note that users of the Personal or Trial versions are prohibited from distributing the product to others.
See the Triple DES page.
See the Triple DES page.
See the API Examples and PKI Programming pages (or, er, read the manual).
The .lib file in the distribution was created using MSVC++.
With Borland you need to generate a new .lib file directly from the DLL using the IMPLIB utility:
implib diCryptoSys.lib diCryptoSys.dll
implib diCrPKI.lib diCrPKI.dll
(note the order of the parameters for this command - get it wrong and it destroys your DLL!).
We've successfully tested this with Borland C++ 5.5.1 for Win32 and we're told it works with version 6.
See also the manual pages "Using With Borland C++" for
CryptoSys API and
CryptoSys PKI.
If you get Unresolved external errors, see stdlib issue.
See Extra Interfaces for interfaces to the CryptoSys PKI Toolkit in other languages. There are also examples provided for CryptoSys API in Delphi and Team Developer. You could use these examples to create your own interface.
There are (unsupported) Linux versions available for both CryptoSys API and CryptoSys PKI. These are provided in both static and shared library form so you can compile directly with your own C program.
The CryptoSys Blowfish and CryptoSys Hash products have been withdrawn. All functions in both products are available in CryptoSys API, which is fully supported and has interfaces for C# and VB.NET programmers. Existing licence holders can still download a copy.
The product CryptoSys KeyExchange has been withdrawn completely due to a lack of commercial demand. It is no longer available or supported in any way.
[PKI]: Yes, the CryptoSys PKI Toolkit includes full support for the private key files published by the Servicio de Administración Tributaria in Mexico. See SAT Mexico and the CryptoSys PKI Toolkit.
See My signature will not validate.
For more information, please Email Us. To comment on this page, see below.
This page last updated 2 January 2010
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