Can someone please explain what this program is doing pointing out some of the major points? I'm looking at the code and I'm completely lost. I just need explanation on the encryption/decryption phases. I think it generates an AES 192 key at one point but I'm not 100% sure. I'm not sure what the byte/ivBytes are used for either. import java.security.Key; import javax.crypto.Cipher; import javax.crypto.KeyGenerator; import javax.crypto.spec.IvParameterSpec; public class RandomKey { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { byte[] input = new byte[] { 0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c, 0x0d, 0x0e, 0x0f, 0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07 }; byte[] ivBytes = new byte[] { 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01 }; //initializing a new initialization vector IvParameterSpec ivSpec = new IvParameterSpec(ivBytes); //what does this actually do? Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/CTR/NoPadding", "BC"); //what does this do? KeyGenerator generator = KeyGenerator.getInstance("AES","BC"); //I assume this generates a key size of 192 bits generator.init(192); //does this generate a random key? Key encryptKey = generator.generateKey(); System.out.println("input: " +toHex(input)); //encryption phase cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, encryptKey, ivSpec); //what is this doing? byte[] cipherText = new byte[cipher.getOutputSize(input.length)]; //what is this doing? int ctLength = cipher.update(input, 0, input.length, cipherText,0); //getting the cipher text length i assume? ctLength += cipher.doFinal (cipherText, ctLength ); System.out.println ("Cipher: " +toHex(cipherText) + " bytes: " + ctLength); //decryption phase cipher.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, encryptKey, ivSpec); //storing the ciphertext in plaintext i'm assuming? byte[] plainText = new byte[cipher.getOutputSize(ctLength)]; int ptLength = cipher.update(cipherText, 0, ctLength, plainText, 0); //getting plaintextLength i think? ptLength= cipher.doFinal (plainText, ptLength); System.out.println("plain: " + toHex(plainText, ptLength)); } private static String digits = "0123456789abcdef"; public static String toHex(byte[] data, int length) { StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer(); for (int i=0; i!= length; i++) { int v = data[i] & 0xff; buf.append(digits.charAt(v >>4)); buf.append(digits.charAt(v & 0xf)); } return buf.toString(); } public static String toHex(byte[] data) { return toHex(data, data.length); } }