User Guide

592 Chapter 3: ColdFusion Functions

GenerateSecretKey

Description

Gets a secure key value for use in the Encrypt function.

Returns

A string containing the encryption key.

See also

Decrypt

, Encrypt

History

ColdFusion MX 7: Added this function.

Parameters

Usage

You cannot use the GenerateSecretKey function to generate a key for the ColdFusion default

encryption algorithm (CFMX_COMPAT) of the

Encrypt and Decrypt functions.

ColdFusion MX 7 uses the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) and installs a Sun Java 1.4.2

runtime that includes the Sun JCE default security provider. This provider includes the

algorithms listed in the Parameters section. The JCE framework includes facilities for using other

provider implementations; however, Macromedia cannot provide technical support for third-

party security providers.

Parameter Description

algorithm The encryption algorithm for which to generate the key. ColdFusion MX

installs a cryptography library with the following algorithms:

• AES: the Advanced Encryption Standard specified by the National Institute

of Standards and Technology (NIST) FIPS-197.

• BLOWFISH: the Blowfish algorithm defined by Bruce Schneier.

• DES: the Data Encryption Standard algorithm defined by NIST FIPS-46-3.

DESEDE: the "Triple DES" algorithm defined by NIST FIPS-46-3.