Ciphers and Message Digests

Ciphers are the algorithms used for data encryption. The following ciphers are supported in the MCP Environment:

  • AES (block cipher of 128 and 256 bit versions), in the following modes:

    • CCM (Counter with Cipher Block Chaining-Message Authentication Code)

      Note: CCM is only available for 128-bit AES.

    • CFB (Cipher FeedBack)

      Note: CFB is only available for 128-bit AES.

    • CTR (Counter)

    • CTS (CipherText Stealing)

    • GCM (Galois/Counter Mode)

Note: MCP also supports CBC (Cipher Block Chaining), TDES, DES, RC2, and RC4, but these algorithms are deprecated. New applications should not use these algorithms. Older applications that use them must change to a more secure algorithm.

A message digest is a short representation of a message used to ensure the data integrity of that message. It is like a fingerprint of the message. The message digest is generated by applying a message digest algorithm to the message and is sent along with the message. The recipient of the message can then verify the data integrity of the message by independently generating the message digest by means of the same algorithm. If the digests match, the data is intact. If they do not match, the message has been tampered with in transit.

The supported message digests are the following:

  • CMAC

  • SHA-256

  • SHA-384

  • SHA-512

  • HMAC-SHA1

  • HMAC-SHA256

  • HMAC-SHA512

Note: MCP also supports SHA-1, MD4, MD5, and HMAC-MD5, but these algorithms are no longer considered secure and should not be used.

Some message digest algorithms are available natively in the MCP environment in the SYSTEM/MESSAGE/DIGEST/SUPPORT library, in addition to being available through the McpCryptoApi library.

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