This document contains instructions for common tasks in Tink. Example code snippets for these tasks and API documentation can be found on pkg.go.dev.
To install Tink locally run:
go get github.com/google/tink/go/...
to run all the tests locally:
cd $GOPATH/go/src/github.com/google/tink/go
go test ./...
Golang Tink API also supports Bazel builds. To run the tests using bazel:
cd $GOPATH/go/src/github.com/google/tink/go
bazel build ... && bazel test ...
To take advantage of key rotation and other key management features, you usually do not work with single keys, but with keysets. Keysets are just sets of keys with some additional parameters and metadata.
Internally Tink stores keysets as Protocol Buffers, but you can work with keysets via a wrapper called a keyset handle. You can generate a new keyset and obtain its handle using a KeyTemplate. KeysetHandle objects enforce certain restrictions that prevent accidental leakage of the sensitive key material.
package main
import (
"fmt"
"log"
"github.com/google/tink/go/aead"
"github.com/google/tink/go/keyset"
)
func main() {
// Other key templates can also be used.
kh, err := keyset.NewHandle(aead.AES128GCMKeyTemplate())
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println(kh.String())
}
Key templates are available for MAC, digital signatures, AEAD encryption, DAEAD encryption and hybrid encryption.
Key Template Type | Key Template |
---|---|
AEAD | aead.AES128CTRHMACSHA256KeyTemplate() |
AEAD | aead.AES128GCMKeyTemplate() |
AEAD | aead.AES256CTRHMACSHA256KeyTemplate() |
AEAD | aead.AES256GCMKeyTemplate() |
AEAD | aead.ChaCha20Poly1305KeyTemplate() |
AEAD | aead.XChaCha20Poly1305KeyTemplate() |
DAEAD | daead.AESSIVKeyTemplate() |
MAC | mac.HMACSHA256Tag128KeyTemplate() |
MAC | mac.HMACSHA256Tag256KeyTemplate() |
MAC | mac.HMACSHA512Tag256KeyTemplate() |
MAC | mac.HMACSHA512Tag512KeyTemplate() |
Signature | signature.ECDSAP256KeyTemplate() |
Signature | signature.ECDSAP384KeyTemplate() |
Signature | signature.ECDSAP521KeyTemplate() |
Hybrid | hybrid.ECIESHKDFAES128GCMKeyTemplate() |
Hybrid | hybrid.ECIESHKDFAES128CTRHMACSHA256KeyTemplate() |
To avoid accidental leakage of sensitive key material, you should avoid mixing keyset generation and usage in code. To support the separation of these activities Tink provides a command-line tool, Tinkey, which can be used for common key management tasks.
After generating key material, you might want to persist it to a storage system. Tink supports encrypting and persisting the keys to any io.Writer and io.Reader implementations.
package main
import (
"fmt"
"log"
"github.com/google/tink/go/aead"
"github.com/google/tink/go/core/registry"
"github.com/google/tink/go/integration/gcpkms"
"github.com/google/tink/go/keyset"
)
const (
// Change this. AWS KMS, Google Cloud KMS and HashiCorp Vault are supported out of the box.
keyURI = "gcp-kms://projects/tink-examples/locations/global/keyRings/foo/cryptoKeys/bar"
credentialsPath = "credentials.json"
)
func main() {
// Generate a new keyset handle.
handle1, err := keyset.NewHandle(aead.AES128GCMKeyTemplate())
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Get the key encryption AEAD from a KMS.
gcpClient, err := gcpkms.NewClientWithCredentials(keyURI, credentialsPath)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
registry.RegisterKMSClient(gcpClient)
keyEncryptionAEAD, err := gcpClient.GetAEAD(keyURI)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Serialize and encrypt the keyset handle using the key encryption AEAD.
// We strongly recommend that you encrypt the keyset handle before persisting
// it.
buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
writer := keyset.NewBinaryWriter(buf)
err = handle1.Write(writer, keyEncryptionAEAD)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
encryptedHandle := buf.Bytes()
// Decrypt and parse the encrypted keyset using the key encryption AEAD.
reader := keyset.NewBinaryReader(bytes.NewReader(encryptedHandle))
handle2, err := keyset.Read(reader, keyEncryptionAEAD)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
The AEAD primitive (authenticated encryption with associated data) is the most common primitive to encrypt data. It is symmetric, and using the same key for encryption and decryption.
Check out the
AEAD examples.
The Play
button at the corner right allows you to run them on the Go
Playground.
The Deterministic AEAD primitive (authenticated encryption with associated data) is used to deterministically encrypt data. It is symmetric, and using the same key for encryption and decryption.
Unlike AEAD, implementations of this interface are not semantically secure, because encrypting the same plaintext always yields the same ciphertext.
Check out the
Deterministic AEAD examples.
The Play
button at the corner right allows you to run them on the Go
Playground.
The MAC primitive allows you to ensure that nobody tampers with data you own. It is symmetric, and using the same key for authentication and verification.
Check out the
MAC examples.
The Play
button at the corner right allows you to run them on the Go
Playground.
The digital signature primitives allow you to ensure that nobody tampers with your data. It is asymmetric, and hence comes with a pair of keys (public key and private key). The private key allows to sign messages, and the public key allows to verify.
Check out the
digital signature examples.
The Play
button at the corner right allows you to run them on the Go
Playground.
The hybrid encryption primitives allow you to encrypt data with a public key. Only users with the secret key will be able to decrypt the data.
Check out the
hybrid encryption examples.
The Play
button at the corner right allows you to run them on the Go
Playground.
Via the AEAD interface, Tink supports envelope encryption.
For example, you can perform envelope encryption with a Google Cloud KMS key at
gcp-kms://projects/tink-examples/locations/global/keyRings/foo/cryptoKeys/bar
using the credentials in credentials.json
as follows:
package main
import (
"encoding/base64"
"fmt"
"github.com/google/tink/go/aead"
"github.com/google/tink/go/core/registry"
"github.com/google/tink/go/integration/gcpkms"
"github.com/google/tink/go/keyset"
)
const (
// Change this. AWS KMS, Google Cloud KMS and HashiCorp Vault are supported out of the box.
keyURI = "gcp-kms://projects/tink-examples/locations/global/keyRings/foo/cryptoKeys/bar"
credentialsPath = "credentials.json"
)
func main() {
gcpclient, err := gcpkms.NewClientWithCredentials(keyURI, credentialsPath)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
registry.RegisterKMSClient(gcpclient)
dek := aead.AES128CTRHMACSHA256KeyTemplate()
kh, err := keyset.NewHandle(aead.KMSEnvelopeAEADKeyTemplate(keyURI, dek))
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
a, err := aead.New(kh)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
msg := []byte("this message needs to be encrypted")
aad := []byte("this data needs to be authenticated, but not encrypted")
ct, err := a.Encrypt(msg, aad)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
pt, err := a.Decrypt(ct, aad)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Ciphertext: %s\n", base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(ct))
fmt.Printf("Original plaintext: %s\n", msg)
fmt.Printf("Decrypted Plaintext: %s\n", pt)
}