Cryptography API: Next Generation (Compact 7)
3/12/2014
Cryptography API: Next Generation (CNG) is the replacement for the Cryptographic Application Programming Interface (CryptoAPI or CAPI). CNG is extensible at many levels and cryptography-agnostic in behavior. Application developers can use CNG to assist with information confidentiality, data integrity, entity authentication, and data origin authentication. For more information about cryptography-agnostic behavior, see CNG Features.
CNG is a pluggable Windows Cryptography API that application developers can use to add authentication, encoding, and encryption to Windows-based applications. When developers add CNG to their application, users can create and exchange documents and other data in a more secure environment, especially over unsecure media such as the Internet. CNG developers should be familiar with the C and C++ programming languages and the Windows-based programming environment. Although not required, an understanding of cryptography or security-related subjects is advised. To learn more about the CNG solution, see Cryptography API: Next Generation.
When you implement cryptography in your OS, you can also add support for digital certificates. For more information, see Certificates Catalog Items and Sysgen Variables.
In This Section
Cryptography API: Next Generation Catalog Items and Sysgen Variables