Mastering Python for Networking and Security

Introduction to pycrypto

When it comes to encrypting information with Python, we have some options, but one of the most reliable is the PyCrypto cryptographic library, which supports functions for block-encryption, flow-encryption, and hash-calculation.

The PyCrypto module provides all needed functions for implementing strong cryptography in a Python program, including both hash functions and encryption algorithms.

For example, the block ciphers supported by pycrypto are:

• AES
• ARC2
• Blowfish
• CAST
• DES
• DES3
• IDEA
• RC5

In general, all these ciphers are used in the same way.

We can use the Crypto.Cipher package to import a specific cipher type:

from Crypto.Cipher import [Chiper_Type]

We can use the new method constructor to initialize the cipher: ...