Cryptography - Create

Declaration

<AMCRYPTOGRAPHY ACTIVITY="create" KEYCONTAINERNAME="text" KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="text (options)" KEYSIZE="number (options)" />

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Description

Creates a machine-level or user-level key container. A key container is a part of the key database in Microsoft Windows operating systems that contains all the key pairs (public and private keys) belonging to a specific user or computer.

Practical Usage

Used to encrypt or decrypt data for applications that run under the specific user or machine identity. Other cryptography activities (i.e. Encrypt, Sign, Verify) can be used subsequent to this step.

Parameters

General

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Key Container Name Text Yes (Empty) KEYCONTAINERNAME="Automate" The unique name to assign the key container in which to create.
Key Container Level Text (options) No User
  • KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="user"
  • KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="machine"
 Specifies whether the new key container should be set to User-Level or Machine-Level. Microsoft Windows makes Machine-Level key containers available to all users, whereas a User-Level key container is available only to the user that created (or imported) the key container. The available options are:
  • User (Default)
  • Machine
NOTE: More details regarding Machine-Level and User-Level key containers can be found below under Comparing Machine-Level and User-Level RSA Key Containers.
Key Size Text (options) Yes 2048
  • KEYSIZE="1024"
  • KEYSIZE="2048"
  • KEYSIZE="4096"
  • KEYSIZE="8192"
 Indicates the size or length of the key (in bits) used in a cryptographic algorithm. Automate uses standardized key sizes based on the asymmetric (RSA) system. Note that the key size determines the "strength" of encryption as well as the amount of time it takes to generate the key container (larger key sizes are more secure but take longer to generate).  The available options are:
  • 1024 (Default)
  • 2048
  • 4096
  • 8192

Description

Error Causes

On Error

Additional Notes

Comparing Machine-Level and User-Level RSA Key Containers

User-level RSA key containers are stored with the Windows user profile for a particular user and can be used to encrypt and decrypt information for applications that run under that specific user identity. User-level RSA key containers can be useful if you want to ensure that the RSA key information is removed when the Windows user profile is removed. However, because you must be logged in with the specific user account that makes use of the user-level RSA key container in order to encrypt or decrypt protected configuration sections, they are inconvenient to use.

Machine-level RSA key containers are available to all users that can log in to a computer, by default, and are the most useful as you can use them to encrypt or decrypt protected configuration sections while logged in with an administrator account. A machine-level RSA key container can be used to protect information for a single application, all the applications on a server, or a group of applications on a server that run under the same user identity. Although machine-level RSA key containers are available to all users, they can be secured with NTFS Access Control Lists (ACLs) so that only required users can access them.

Examples

NOTE:
  • The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps Panel of the Task Builder.
  • Parameters containing user credentials, files, file paths, and/or other information specific to the task must be customized before the sample code can run successfully.

Example 1

Create USER-Level Key Container.

EXAMPLE:
<AMCRYPTOGRAPHY ACTIVITY="create" KEYCONTAINERNAME="Automate" KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="user" KEYSIZE="2048" />

Example 2

Create MACHINE-Level Key Container.

EXAMPLE:
<AMCRYPTOGRAPHY ACTIVITY="create" KEYCONTAINERNAME="Automate" KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="machine" KEYSIZE="8192" />