Crypto: AES CTR

The AES CTR sample shows how to perform AES encryption and decryption operations using the CTR block cipher mode without padding and a 128-bit AES key.

Requirements

The sample supports the following development kits:

Hardware platforms

PCA

Board name

Build target

nRF9160 DK

PCA10090

nrf9160dk_nrf9160

nrf9160dk_nrf9160_ns nrf9160dk_nrf9160

nRF5340 DK

PCA10095

nrf5340dk_nrf5340

nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp_ns nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp

nRF52840 DK

PCA10056

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

When built for an _ns build target, the sample is configured to compile and run as a non-secure application with Cortex-M Security Extensions enabled. Therefore, it automatically includes Trusted Firmware-M that prepares the required peripherals and secure services to be available for the application.

Overview

The sample performs the following operations:

  1. Initialization:

    1. The Platform Security Architecture (PSA) API is initialized.

    2. A random AES key is generated and imported into the PSA crypto keystore.

  2. Encryption and decryption of a sample plaintext:

    1. A random initialization vector (IV) is generated.

    2. Encryption is performed.

    3. Decryption is performed.

  3. Cleanup:

    1. The AES key is removed from the PSA crypto keystore.

Building and running

This sample can be found under samples/crypto/aes_ctr in the nRF Connect SDK folder structure.

When built as firmware image for the _ns build target, the sample has Cortex-M Security Extensions (CMSE) enabled and separates the firmware between Non-Secure Processing Environment (NSPE) and Secure Processing Environment (SPE). Because of this, it automatically includes the Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M). To read more about CMSE, see Processing environments.

To build the sample with Visual Studio Code, follow the steps listed on the How to build an application page in the nRF Connect for VS Code extension documentation. See Building and programming an application for other building and programming scenarios and Testing and debugging an application for general information about testing and debugging in the nRF Connect SDK.

Testing

After programming the sample to your development kit, complete the following steps to test it:

  1. Connect to the kit with a terminal emulator (for example, PuTTY). See How to connect with PuTTY for the required settings.

  2. Compile and program the application.

  3. Observe the logs from the application using a terminal emulator.