Request for feedback: DOMCrypt API proposal

Hello public-webapps members,

(I wanted to post this proposed draft spec for the DOMCrypt API ( https://wiki.mozilla.org/Privacy/Features/DOMCryptAPISpec/Latest ) to this list - if there is a more fitting mailing list, please let me know)

I recently posted this draft spec for a crypto API for browsers to the whatwg (see: http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2011-May/031741.html) and wanted to get feedback from W3C as well. 

Privacy and user control on the web is of utter importance. Tracking, unauthorized user data aggregation and personal information breaches are becoming so commonplace you see a new headline almost daily. (It seems).

We need crypto APIs in browsers to allow developers to create more secure communications tools and web applications that don’t have to implicitly trust the server, among other use cases.

The DOMCrypt API is a good start, and more feedback and discussion will really help round out how all of this should work – as well as how it can work in any browser that will support such an API.

This API will provide each web browser window with a ‘cipher’ property[1] that facilitates:

    asymmetric encryption key pair generation
    public key encryption
    public key decryption
    symmetric encryption
    signature generation
    signature verification
    hashing
    easy public key discovery via meta tags or an ‘addressbookentry’ tag

[1] There is a bit of discussion around adding this API to window.navigator or consolidation within window.crypto

I have created a Firefox extension that implements most of the above, and am working on an experimental patch that integrates this API into Firefox.

The project originated in an extension I wrote, the home page is here: http://domcrypt.org

The source code for the extension is here: https://github.com/daviddahl/domcrypt

The Mozilla bugs are here:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=649154
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=657432

Firefox "feature wiki page": https://wiki.mozilla.org/Privacy/Features/DOMCryptAPI

You can test the API by installing the extension hosted at domcrypt.org, and going to http://domcrypt.org

A recent blog post updating all of this is posted here: http://monocleglobe..wordpress.com/2011/06/01/domcrypt-update-2011-06-01/

The API:

window.cipher = {
 // Public Key API
 pk: {
   set algorithm(algorithm){ },
   get algorithm(){ },

  // Generate a keypair and then execute the callback function
  generateKeypair: function ( function callback( aPublicKey ) { } ) {  },

  // encrypt a plainText
  encrypt: function ( plainText, function callback (cipherMessageObject) ) {  } ) {  },

  // decrypt a cipherMessage
  decrypt: function ( cipherMessageObject, function callback ( plainText ) { } ) {  },

  // sign a message
  sign: function ( plainText, function callback ( signature ) { } ) {  },

  // verify a signature
  verify: function ( signature, plainText, function callback ( boolean ) { } ) {  },

  // get the JSON cipherAddressbook
  get addressbook() {},

  // make changes to the addressbook
  saveAddressbook: function (JSONObject, function callback ( addresssbook ) { }) {  }
  },

  // Symmetric Crypto API
  sym: {
  get algorithm(),
  set algorithm(algorithm),

  // create a new symmetric key
  generateKey: function (function callback ( key ){ }) {  },

  // encrypt some data
  encrypt: function (plainText, key, function callback( cipherText ){ }) {  },

  // decrypt some data
  decrypt: function (cipherText, key, function callback( plainText ) { }) {  },
  },

  // hashing
  hash: {
    SHA256: function (function callback (hash){}) {  }
  }
}

Your feedback and criticism will be invaluable.

Best regards,

David Dahl

Firefox Engineer, Mozilla Corp.

Received on Thursday, 2 June 2011 09:26:04 UTC