Question

I am trying to implement a simple string encoder to obfuscates some parts of a URL string (to prevent them from getting mucked with by a user). I’m using code nearly identical to the sample in the JCA guide, except:

• using DES (assuming it’s a little faster than AES, and requires a smaller key) and
• Base64 en/decoding the string to make sure it stays safe for a URL.

For reasons I can’t understand, the output string ends up with linebreaks, which I presume won’t work. I can’t figure out what’s causing this. Suggestions on something similar that’s easier or pointers to some other resources to read? I’m finding all the cryptography references a bit over my head (and overkill), but a simple ROT13 implementation won’t work since I want to deal with a larger character set (and don’t want to waste time implementing something likely to have issues with obscure characters i didn’t think of).

Sample input (no line break):

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=kansas&hl=en&sll=42.358431,-71.059773&sspn=0.415552,0.718918&hnear=Kansas&t=m&z=7

Sample Output (line breaks as shown below):

GstikIiULcJSGEU2NWNTpyucSWUFENptYk4m5lD8RJl8l1CuspiuXiE9a07fUEAGM/tC7h0Vzus+
jAH6cT4Wtz2RUlBdGf8WtQxVDKZVOzKwi84eQh2kZT9T3KomlnPOu2owJ/2RAEvG+QuGem5UGw==

my encode snippet:

final Key key = new SecretKeySpec(seed.getBytes(), "DES");
final Cipher c = Cipher.getInstance("DES");
c.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, key);
final byte[] encVal = c.doFinal(s.getBytes());
return new BASE64Encoder().encode(encVal);

Answer 1

Base64 encoders usually impose some maximum line (chunk) length, and adds newlines when necessary. You can normally configure that, but that depends on the particular coder implementation.
For example, the class from Apache Commons has a linelength attribute, setting it to zero (or negative) disables the line separation.

BTW: I agree with the other answer in that DES is hardly advisable today. Further, are you just “obfuscating” or really encrypting? Who has the key? The whole thing does not smell very well to me.