The JCA architecture is a provider-based-architecture because it has been defined as an intermediary layer, an interface, between the Java application and the cryptography provider (the actual framework that implements classes for the actual cryptographic algorithms). The basic functionality for using cryptographic techniques in Java is provided by the Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA) and its sibling, the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE). What is the Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA), the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) and the Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) as a Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) for the Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA) Įach approach has its own advantages that are detailed in the next sections.The Bouncy Castle API can be used in J2SE applications in two ways: You must use a cryptographic API which provides the necessary classes and methods. generating message authentication codes for messages.encryption/decryption using public certificates in a public key infrastructure.encryption/decryption using symmetric key algorithms.generating hash values to check the integrity of the message or file.If you want to develop Java applications based on the JSE framework that provide cryptographic services as: In this post we will see how to use Bouncy Castle Cryptographic API either as a JCA provider or as a lightweight API to develop Java J2SE projects in NetBeans 7 (works also on older versions) or Eclipse IDE.

The API can be downloaded from the Bouncy Castle latest releases page. The API provides cryptographic functions for Java JDK 1.1 to 1.6 applications and for J2ME (mobile applications) MIDlets. The Bouncy Castle Crypto API for Java provides a lightweight cryptography API that works with everything from the J2ME to the JDK 1.6 platform and also a provider for the Java Cryptography Extension JCE (provides an implementation for JCE 1.2.1) and the Java Cryptography Architecture, JCA.

Java package bouncy castle