Elliptic Curve Encryption in Java 7, Is it implemented?

[Yoram Halberstam]

According to this documentation JAVA 7 supports Elliptic Curve encryption.

Standard Algorithm Name Documentation

I've tried

Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("ECIES");

but I get

Exception in thread "main" java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: Cannot find any provider supporting ECIES
	at javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance(Cipher.java:523)
	at com.company.poc.apps.test.urlcipher.impl.ECPurePKI.crypt(ECPurePKI.java:36)
	at com.company.poc.apps.test.urlcipher.PkiPerformance.testEncryption(PkiPerformance.java:139)
	at com.company.poc.apps.test.urlcipher.PkiPerformance.execute(PkiPerformance.java:297)
	at com.company.poc.apps.test.urlcipher.PkiPerformance.main(PkiPerformance.java:265)

I can't see it listed when I run that code either:

	private static void debugProviders()  throws Exception {
		if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
			log.debug("**************** JCE PROVIDERS BEGIN ***************");
			Set<String> set = new TreeSet<String>();

			Provider[] providers = Security.getProviders();
				
			for (Provider p: providers) {
				//log.debug("Provider class: " + provider);
				
				/*Class<?> providerClass = Class.forName(provider);
				Object o = providerClass.newInstance();*/
				
				//Provider p =  (Provider)o;
				
				for (Entry<Object, Object> entry: p.entrySet()) {
					String key = entry.getKey().toString();
					String value = entry.getValue().toString();
					
					if ((key.startsWith("Cipher.")) && (value.indexOf('.') > 0)) {
						set.add(key.toString().substring(7) + ": " + value.toString());
					}
				}				
			}
			
			for (String s: set) {
				log.debug(s);
			}
				
			//log.debug(" ");
			
			log.debug("**************** JCE PROVIDERS end ***************");
			
		}
	}

I'm using the Unlimited Strength downloaded from Sun Website. I've generated a key pair using

keytool -genkeypair -keyalg EC -keysize 160 -keystore test-ie.jks -storepass password -alias ec160 -dname "CN=Yoram Halberstam, OU=Test EC 160, O=MPI, L=London, ST=London, C=GB"

[greg stark]

Ah, but "support" means something different here. Java will support new algorithms in the JCE by provider standard names that provider implementers may use to provide actual implementations. The standard names are only half the battle, you must then check and see if there are any JCE providers that implement that algorithm. As you can see here, none of the Oracle providers supports this algorithm.

I believe the bouncycastle provider supports ECIES.

[Yoram Halberstam]

greg stark wrote:Ah, but "support" means something different here. Java will support new algorithms in the JCE by provider standard names that provider implementers may use to provide actual implementations. The standard names are only half the battle, you must then check and see if there are any JCE providers that implement that algorithm. As you can see here, none of the Oracle providers supports this algorithm.

I believe the bouncycastle provider supports ECIES.

Ah ok thanks - oh well at least you can generate the key with keytool!