This project contains tools for encrypting and decrypting files using the RSA encryption technique. This project is also a skill showcase.
This project is based on the Encryption with Python guided project. However, all the codes and files present in this project were created, debugged, and tested by the owner of this repository.
For the encryption process using RSA, two keys are generated. The private key, used for decrypting files, and a public key, used for encrypting files. After the keys are generated, they are serialized. The process of serialization revolves around the idea of transforming a program memory object into a hard disk memory file, which can be handled in many ways, shared, and stored for later use.
After the process of serializing the keys, the file is encrypted. First, the file-to-be-encrypted is loaded into the program memory, as well as the public key. The file is encrypted using the public key. The ciphertext generated by the encryption method is stored as a file, using the same extension of the original one. The decryption follows the same process but uses the private key.
For the tools' functionality, you can click here: Tools
For the project's showcase, you can click here: Showcase
To get access to the tools contained in this repository, you can either download the source code for each tool or you can clone this repository by running the following command:
git clone https://github.com/ItaloHugoMDS/Encryption_and_Decryption_with_Python.git
The tools used in this project can only encrypt small files due to the limitations of RSA. But before jumping to the file encryption process, a few steps need to be taken first:
- Generating the keys;
- Encrypting the file;
- Decrypting the file.
For each step in further detail, you can go to the Syntax of the tools.
In order to generate the keys for encryption and decryption, you can use the Generate_Keys.py file, which
will require python3 to be run, and execute the following command:
python3 Generate_Keys.py [Name_of_Private_PEM] [Name_of_Public_PEM] [Private_Key_Password]
Otherwise, you can use the Generate_Keys file, which can be stored in to the /bin directory and the script
can be run anywhere within the terminal, and use the following command:
./Generate_Keys [Name_of_Private_PEM] [Name_of_Public_PEM] [Private_Key_Password]
The arguments for both files are the same:
- [Name_of_Private_PEM]: This will be the private key's PEM file name.
- [Name_of_Public_PEM]: This will be public key's PEM file name.
- [Private_Key_Password]: This will be the password used for the serialization of the private key.
For the encryption process, you can use the Encrypt_File.py which will require python3, and run the
following command:
python3 Encrypt_File.py [File_Name] [Public_Key.pem] [Encrypted_File_Name]
You can also use the Encrypt_File file, and execute the following command:
./Encrypt_File [File_Name] [Public_Key.pem] [Encrypted_File_Name]
Both files make use of the same argument:
- [File_Name]: The name of the file to be encrypted.
- [Public_Key.pem]: The serialized public key PEM file.
- [Encrypted_File_Name]: This is an optional argument, this will be the name of the encrypted output file. If this argument isn't provided in the execution, the original file will be overwritten with the encrypted content.
The decryption process can be done using the Decrypt_File.py, executing the following command:
python3 Decrypt_File.py [File_To_Be_Decrypted] [Private_Key.pem] [Private_Key_Password] [Encrypted_File_Name]
It is also possible to use the Decrypt_File, using the following command:
./Decrypt_File [File_To_Be_Decrypted] [Private_Key.pem] [Private_Key_Password] [Encrypted_File_Name]
The arguments used for both files are the same:
- [File_To_Be_Decrypted]: The file that will be decrypted.
- [Private_Key.pem]: The serialized private key PEM file.
- [Private_Key_Password]: Here will come the password used on the private key serialization process.
- [Encrypted_File_Name]: This is an optional argument, this will be the name of the decrypted output file. If this argument isn't provided in the execution, the original file will be overwritten with the decrypted content.
For this showcase, a simple file containing some basic content, which can be seen under the data.txt file, was used as data for encryption.
The first step was generating the keys.
Script's arguments:
Executing the command:
Script's output:
The next step is to encrypt the data file.
Original data:
Script's arguments:
Script's execution and output:
The final step is to decrypt the encrypted file.
Encrypted file:
Script's argument:
Script's execution and output:
The Encryption and Decryption scripts also except extra arguments, those arguments are used for generating a different output file instead of overwriting the original one. Here is one use of the extra arguments:
Original data:
Script execution and output into new file:
Decrypting the file.
Encrypted data:
Script execution and output:
