Convert Plaintext to Ciphertext and Back From the Command-line

The Wizard's Toolkit includes a number of command-line utilities for encrypting, identifying, or decrypting files.

The The Wizard's Toolkit command-line tools exit with a status of 0 if the command line arguments have a proper syntax and no problems are encountered. Expect a descriptive message and an exit status of 1 if any exception occurs such as improper syntax, a problem reading or writing an file, or any other problem that prevents the command from completing successfully.

In the paragraphs below, find a short description for each command-line tool. Click on the program name to get details about the program usage and a list of command-line options that alters how the program behaves. If you are just getting acquainted with The Wizard's Toolkit, start with the encipher program.

encipher

convert plaintext to ciphertext.

decipher

convert ciphertext to plaintext.

cipher-info

describe the format and characteristics of one or more encrypted files.

keyring

import, export, or list properties of keys on your keyring.

digest

return a message digest for one or more files or read message digests from a file and authenticate them.

To get you started, here is a brief example of how you might use these utilities:

$ encipher -keyring keyring.xdm secret-message.txt secret-message.cip
  Enter the passphrase (maximum of 4096 characters)
  Enter passphrase: 
  Enter same passphrase again: 
  
  $ cipher-info secret-message.cip
  Filename: secret-message.cip
    Cipher:
      type: AES
      mode: CTR
      nonce: 61ae70a6a47793b40000000000000000
    Authenticate:
      method: Secret
    Key:
      hash: SHA256
      length: 512
      id: d596e432a92b2e60c76c104958d16dbe8a67519001249b69b46bfade54e6ac8c
    Entropy Generator:
      type: BZip
      level: 6
    Keyed-Hashed Message Authentication Code:
      hash: SHA256
    Random Generator:
      hash: SHA256
    Chunksize: 256kb
    Dates:
      modify: 2009-02-29T10:39:18-05:00
      create: 2009-02-29T10:39:18-05:00
      timestamp: 2009-02-29T10:41:48-05:00
    Protocol: 1.0
    Version: WizardsToolkit 1.0.5 02/29/08 http://urban-warrior.org
  
  $ keyring keyring.xdm -
  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
           xmlns:keyring="http://urban-warrior.org/WizardsToolkit/keyring/1.0/">
    <keyring:Keyring rdf:about="keyring.xdm">
      <keyring:modify-date>2009-02-29T10:41:48-05:00</keyring:modify-date>
      <keyring:create-date>2009-02-29T10:41:48-05:00</keyring:create-date>
      <keyring:timestamp>2009-02-29T10:41:48-05:00</keyring:timestamp>
    </keyring:Keyring>
    <keyring:Key rdf:about="d596e432a92b2e60c76c104958d16dbe8a67519001249b69b46bfade54e6ac8c">
      <keyring:memberOf rdf:resource="keyring.xdm"/> 
      <keyring:nonce>1d443b7e02ae82040000000000000000</keyring:nonce>
      <keyring:timestamp>2009-02-29T10:41:48-05:00</keyring:timestamp>
      <keyring:protocol>1.1</keyring:protocol>
    </keyring:Key>
  </rdf:RDF>
  
  $ decipher -keyring keyring.xdm secret-message.cip public-message.txt
  Enter the passphrase (maximum of 4096 characters)
  Enter passphrase: 
  Enter same passphrase again: 
  
  $ digest secret-message.txt public-message.txt -
  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
           xmlns:digest="http://urban-warrior.org/WizardsToolkit/digest/1.0/">
    <digest:Content rdf:about="secret-message.txt">
      <digest:timestamp>2009-02-29T10:42:03-05:00</digest:timestamp>
      <digest:modify-date>2009-02-29T10:39:18-05:00</digest:modify-date>
      <digest:create-date>2009-02-29T10:39:18-05:00</digest:create-date>
      <digest:extent>9113</digest:extent>
      <digest:sha256>90ca62d8a67e43f86b67162e6a5804612e2c45d44a014760c49e1999b9fb344e</digest:sha256>
    </digest:Content>
    <digest:Content rdf:about="public-message.txt">
      <digest:timestamp>2009-02-29T10:42:03-05:00</digest:timestamp>
      <digest:modify-date>2009-02-29T10:39:18-05:00</digest:modify-date>
      <digest:create-date>2009-02-29T10:39:18-05:00</digest:create-date>
      <digest:extent>8196</digest:extent>
      <digest:sha256>90ca62d8a67e43f86b67162e6a5804612e2c45d44a014760c49e1999b9fb344e</digest:sha256>
    </digest:Content>
  </rdf:RDF>

To decrypt cyphertext, you'll need the cypertext and the keyring. Without the keyring, there is no hope of recovering the original plaintext.