| Data Protection Application Programming Interface |
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Information AboutData Protection Application Programming Interface |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT DATA PROTECTION API | |
| microsoft apis | |
| cryptographic software | |
| microsoft windows security technology | |
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For almost all types of Encryption , a Cryptographic Key is required. A key is a string of characters or Bytes that is used to encrypt or decrypt the data. However, when developing secure systems, the question of how to store the encryption key often arises. If the key is stored in ''plain text'', then any user that can access the key can access the encrypted data. If the key is to be encrypted, another key is needed, and so on ad infinitum. DPAPI allows developers to encrypt keys based on a particular user's profile or all the users of the local machine by the use of the system DPAPI key. The keys used for encrypting the user's keys are stored under "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Protect\{SID}", where {SID} is the security identifier of that user. The DPAPI key is stored in the same file as the master key that protects the users private keys. It usually is 40 bytes of random data. DPAPI doesn't store any persistent data for itself; instead, it simply receives plaintext and returns cryptext (or vice-versa). DPAPI security relies upon the system's ability to protect the Master Key and RSA private keys from compromise, which in most attack scenarios is most highly reliant on the security of the end user's credentials. Particular data Binary Large Object s can be encrypted in a way that Salt is added and/or an external user-provided password (aka "Strong Key Protection") is required. The use of a salt is a per-implementation option - i.e. under the control of the application developer - not controllable by the end user or IT professional. Delegated access can be given to keys through the use of a COM+ object. This enables IIS Web Servers to use DPAPI. USE OF DPAPI BY MICROSOFT PRODUCTS
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