Programming Tutorials

Encrypting Passwords in Tomcat using Servlets

By: Sam Chen in JSP Tutorials on 2023-05-04  

Encrypting passwords is an essential aspect of web application security. Here are the steps to encrypt passwords in Tomcat using Servlets:

1. Create a Java class that contains a method to encrypt a password. You can use any encryption algorithm like MD5, SHA-256, or BCrypt. Here is an example using BCrypt:

   import org.mindrot.jbcrypt.BCrypt;
   
   public class PasswordEncryptionUtil {
   
       public static String encryptPassword(String password) {
           return BCrypt.hashpw(password, BCrypt.gensalt());
       }
   
       public static boolean checkPassword(String password, String hashedPassword) {
           return BCrypt.checkpw(password, hashedPassword);
       }
   }
   

2. In your Servlet, get the plain password from the user and call the encryptPassword method to encrypt it.

   String plainPassword = request.getParameter("password");
   String encryptedPassword = PasswordEncryptionUtil.encryptPassword(plainPassword);
   

3. Store the encrypted password in the database.

   Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);
   String sql = "INSERT INTO users (username, password) VALUES (?, ?)";
   PreparedStatement stmt = conn.prepareStatement(sql);
   stmt.setString(1, username);
   stmt.setString(2, encryptedPassword);
   stmt.executeUpdate();
   

4. When a user logs in, retrieve the encrypted password from the database and call the checkPassword method to verify the password.

   String plainPassword = request.getParameter("password");
   String hashedPassword = // retrieve hashed password from database using username
   boolean isValid = PasswordEncryptionUtil.checkPassword(plainPassword, hashedPassword);
   if (isValid) {
       // login successful
   } else {
       // login failed
   }
   

By following these steps, you can encrypt passwords in Tomcat using Servlets and enhance the security of your web application.