Integrating Network Cryptography into the Operating System

Cryptography libraries are inflexible and difficult for developers to integrate with their applications. These difficulties may be contributing to applications, like PGP, that are non-intuitive for end-users and are often used improperly or not at all. In this paper we argue that the best place for cryptography to be implemented is at the Operating System level rather than the current application-layer approach. We introduce and define a new general-purpose network cryptography library that integrates directly with the Operating System. This capability is flexible and easy to adopt because it can be used with the sockets interface, which developers are already familiar with, in addition to creating a general cryptography library that can be used in non-network situations. This technology will allow developers to focus on application usability rather than struggle with the learning curve required to properly use a specific cryptography library as required by current practices.