Specifically, how to encrypt your sensitive information using the power of Rust and Argon2i. But first, let’s take a moment to appreciate just how cool it is that we can do this in Rust!
Rust is an incredibly powerful language for systems programming, but did you know that it also has some pretty sweet crypto libraries?
So what is Argon2i anyway? Well, let me put it this way: if encryption were a superhero, Argon2i would be its sidekick. It’s an algorithm that helps us secure our sensitive information by adding some extra layers of protection to the encryption process. And best of all, it does this without sacrificing performance or ease-of-use!
Now, let’s get down to business. Before anything else: we need to install Rust and its crypto libraries. If you haven’t already done so, head over to [rustup](https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install) and follow the instructions for your operating system.
Once that’s all set up, let’s create a new project using Cargo (Rust’s package manager). Open up your terminal or command prompt and type:
# This script creates a new project using Cargo and navigates to the project directory.
# It is used to set up a new project for using the Argon2i library in Rust.
# Create a new project named "argon2i-example" using Cargo.
cargo new argon2i-example
# Navigate to the project directory.
cd argon2i-example
This will create a new Rust project called “argon2i-example” in the current directory. Now, let’s add some dependencies to our Cargo.toml file:
toml
# This section specifies the dependencies for the project
[dependencies]
# The "argon2" dependency is used for hashing passwords
argon2 = "0.43.1"
# The "rand_core" dependency is used for generating random numbers
rand_core = "0.5.4"
These are the libraries we need for Argon2i and a random number generator, respectively. Save your changes to Cargo.toml and run `cargo build –release` in your terminal or command prompt. This will compile our project with optimizations enabled (which is always a good idea when dealing with encryption).
Now that we have everything set up, let’s write some code! Open up src/main.rs and add the following:
// Import necessary libraries
use argon2::{Argon2, Config}; // Import Argon2 library for encryption
use rand_core::OsRng; // Import OsRng library for generating random numbers
use std::io::{Read, Write}; // Import io library for reading and writing to standard input/output
fn main() {
// Read input from standard input (i.e., user's keyboard)
let mut input = String::new(); // Create a mutable string variable to store user input
std::io::stdin().read_line(&mut input).expect("Failed to read line"); // Read user input and handle any errors
// Remove newline character and convert string to bytes
let password: Vec<u8> = input.trim().as_bytes().to_vec(); // Remove newline character and convert input to bytes
// Generate salt (random data) for encryption
let mut rng = OsRng::new().expect("Failed to generate random number"); // Create a random number generator
let salt = rng.gen::<[u8; 32]>(); // Generate a 32-byte salt using the random number generator
// Create Argon2i configuration with salt and other settings
let config = Config::default() // Create a default configuration for Argon2i
.hash_length(512) // Set hash length (in bits) to 512
.memory_cost(1 << 14) // Set memory cost (in KiB) to 32KiB (1 << 14 = 2^14 = 16384)
.time_cost(10); // Set time cost (number of iterations) to 10
// Encrypt password using Argon2i and salt
let ciphertext = argon2::hash(&password, &salt, config).unwrap(); // Use Argon2i to encrypt the password using the salt and configuration
// Write encrypted data to standard output (i.e., user's terminal)
println!("Encrypted data: {:?}", ciphertext); // Print the encrypted data to the terminal
}
This code reads input from the user’s keyboard, generates a salt using a random number generator, creates an Argon2i configuration with our desired settings (hash length, memory cost, and time cost), encrypts the password using Argon2i and the salt, and writes the resulting ciphertext to standard output.
Now let’s test it out! Run `cargo run` in your terminal or command prompt and follow the prompts:
# Prompt user to enter password
read -p "Enter password: " password
# Generate a random salt using the current time and date
salt=$(date +%s)
# Set Argon2i configuration with desired settings
# -l: hash length, -m: memory cost, -t: time cost
argon2i_config="-l 32 -m 4096 -t 10"
# Encrypt password using Argon2i and the salt
# -i: use Argon2i, -p: password, -S: salt
encrypted_data=$(echo "$password" | argon2 $argon2i_config -i -p -S "$salt")
# Print the resulting ciphertext to standard output
echo "Encrypted data: $encrypted_data"
And there you have it securely encrypted data using Rust and Argon2i! Of course, this is just a simple example, but the possibilities are endless. You can use this code as a starting point for more complex encryption schemes or even integrate it into your own projects. Just remember to always keep your sensitive information safe and sound!
Later!