Encrypting and decrypting data with a symmetric key

This page shows you how to use Cloud Key Management Service (Cloud KMS) to do the following symmetric key operations:

• Encrypt text or binary content (plaintext) by using a Cloud KMS key.
• Decrypt ciphertext that was encrypted with a Cloud KMS key.

If you want to use an asymmetric key for encryption, see Encrypting and decrypting data with an asymmetric key. To learn about raw symmetric encryption, see raw symmetric encryption.

Note: For security reasons, the raw cryptographic key material represented by a Cloud KMS key can never be viewed or exported. It can only be used by an authorized user to encrypt or decrypt data when they invoke the Cloud KMS API.

Before you begin

1. Create a key ring and create a key.

2. Ensure the user that is calling the encrypt and decrypt methods has the cloudkms.cryptoKeyVersions.useToEncrypt and cloudkms.cryptoKeyVersions.useToDecrypt permissions on the key.

   One way to permit a user to encrypt or decrypt is to add the user to the roles/cloudkms.cryptoKeyEncrypter, roles/cloudkms.cryptoKeyDecrypter, or roles/cloudkms.cryptoKeyEncrypterDecrypter IAM roles for that key. The roles/cloudkms.admin role does not provide these two permissions. For more information, see Permissions and Roles.

Encrypt

gcloud

To use Cloud KMS on the command line, first Install or upgrade to the latest version of Google Cloud CLI.

gcloud kms encrypt \
    --key KEY_NAME \
    --keyring KEY_RING \
    --location LOCATION  \
    --plaintext-file FILE_TO_ENCRYPT \
    --ciphertext-file ENCRYPTED_OUTPUT

Replace the following:

• KEY_NAME: the name of the key that you want to use for encryption.
• KEY_RING: the name of the key ring that contains the key.
• LOCATION: the Cloud KMS location that contains the key ring.
• FILE_TO_ENCRYPT: the path to the file that you want to encrypt.
• ENCRYPTED_OUTPUT: the path where you want to save the encrypted output.

For information on all flags and possible values, run the command with the --help flag.

C#

To run this code, first set up a C# development environment and install the Cloud KMS C# SDK.

using Google.Cloud.Kms.V1;
using Google.Protobuf;
using System.Text;

public class EncryptSymmetricSample
{
    public byte[] EncryptSymmetric(
      string projectId = "my-project", string locationId = "us-east1", string keyRingId = "my-key-ring", string keyId = "my-key",
      string message = "Sample message")
    {
        // Create the client.
        KeyManagementServiceClient client = KeyManagementServiceClient.Create();

        // Build the key name.
        CryptoKeyName keyName = new CryptoKeyName(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId);

        // Convert the message into bytes. Cryptographic plaintexts and
        // ciphertexts are always byte arrays.
        byte[] plaintext = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(message);

        // Call the API.
        EncryptResponse result = client.Encrypt(keyName, ByteString.CopyFrom(plaintext));

        // Return the ciphertext.
        return result.Ciphertext.ToByteArray();
    }
}

Go

To run this code, first set up a Go development environment and install the Cloud KMS Go SDK.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"hash/crc32"
	"io"

	kms "cloud.google.com/go/kms/apiv1"
	"cloud.google.com/go/kms/apiv1/kmspb"
	"google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/wrapperspb"
)

// encryptSymmetric encrypts the input plaintext with the specified symmetric
// Cloud KMS key.
func encryptSymmetric(w io.Writer, name string, message string) error {
	// name := "projects/my-project/locations/us-east1/keyRings/my-key-ring/cryptoKeys/my-key"
	// message := "Sample message"

	// Create the client.
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := kms.NewKeyManagementClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create kms client: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// Convert the message into bytes. Cryptographic plaintexts and
	// ciphertexts are always byte arrays.
	plaintext := []byte(message)

	// Optional but recommended: Compute plaintext's CRC32C.
	crc32c := func(data []byte) uint32 {
		t := crc32.MakeTable(crc32.Castagnoli)
		return crc32.Checksum(data, t)
	}
	plaintextCRC32C := crc32c(plaintext)

	// Build the request.
	req := &kmspb.EncryptRequest{
		Name:            name,
		Plaintext:       plaintext,
		PlaintextCrc32C: wrapperspb.Int64(int64(plaintextCRC32C)),
	}

	// Call the API.
	result, err := client.Encrypt(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to encrypt: %w", err)
	}

	// Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on result.
	// For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
	// https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
	if result.VerifiedPlaintextCrc32C == false {
		return fmt.Errorf("Encrypt: request corrupted in-transit")
	}
	if int64(crc32c(result.Ciphertext)) != result.CiphertextCrc32C.Value {
		return fmt.Errorf("Encrypt: response corrupted in-transit")
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Encrypted ciphertext: %s", result.Ciphertext)
	return nil
}

Java

To run this code, first set up a Java development environment and install the Cloud KMS Java SDK.

import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.CryptoKeyName;
import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.EncryptResponse;
import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.KeyManagementServiceClient;
import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
import java.io.IOException;

public class EncryptSymmetric {

  public void encryptSymmetric() throws IOException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String locationId = "us-east1";
    String keyRingId = "my-key-ring";
    String keyId = "my-key";
    String plaintext = "Plaintext to encrypt";
    encryptSymmetric(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId, plaintext);
  }

  // Encrypt data with a given key.
  public void encryptSymmetric(
      String projectId, String locationId, String keyRingId, String keyId, String plaintext)
      throws IOException {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only
    // needs to be created once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After
    // completing all of your requests, call the "close" method on the client to
    // safely clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (KeyManagementServiceClient client = KeyManagementServiceClient.create()) {
      // Build the key version name from the project, location, key ring, key,
      // and key version.
      CryptoKeyName keyVersionName = CryptoKeyName.of(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId);

      // Encrypt the plaintext.
      EncryptResponse response = client.encrypt(keyVersionName, ByteString.copyFromUtf8(plaintext));
      System.out.printf("Ciphertext: %s%n", response.getCiphertext().toStringUtf8());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

To run this code, first set up a Node.js development environment and install the Cloud KMS Node.js SDK.

//
// TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
//
// const projectId = 'my-project';
// const locationId = 'us-east1';
// const keyRingId = 'my-key-ring';
// const keyId = 'my-key';
// const plaintextBuffer = Buffer.from('...');

// Imports the Cloud KMS library
const {KeyManagementServiceClient} = require('@google-cloud/kms');

// Instantiates a client
const client = new KeyManagementServiceClient();

// Build the key name
const keyName = client.cryptoKeyPath(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId);

// Optional, but recommended: compute plaintext's CRC32C.
const crc32c = require('fast-crc32c');
const plaintextCrc32c = crc32c.calculate(plaintextBuffer);

async function encryptSymmetric() {
  const [encryptResponse] = await client.encrypt({
    name: keyName,
    plaintext: plaintextBuffer,
    plaintextCrc32c: {
      value: plaintextCrc32c,
    },
  });

  const ciphertext = encryptResponse.ciphertext;

  // Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on encryptResponse.
  // For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
  // https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
  if (!encryptResponse.verifiedPlaintextCrc32c) {
    throw new Error('Encrypt: request corrupted in-transit');
  }
  if (
    crc32c.calculate(ciphertext) !==
    Number(encryptResponse.ciphertextCrc32c.value)
  ) {
    throw new Error('Encrypt: response corrupted in-transit');
  }

  console.log(`Ciphertext: ${ciphertext.toString('base64')}`);
  return ciphertext;
}

return encryptSymmetric();

PHP

To run this code, first learn about using PHP on Google Cloud and install the Cloud KMS PHP SDK.

use Google\Cloud\Kms\V1\Client\KeyManagementServiceClient;
use Google\Cloud\Kms\V1\EncryptRequest;

function encrypt_symmetric(
    string $projectId = 'my-project',
    string $locationId = 'us-east1',
    string $keyRingId = 'my-key-ring',
    string $keyId = 'my-key',
    string $plaintext = '...'
) {
    // Create the Cloud KMS client.
    $client = new KeyManagementServiceClient();

    // Build the key name.
    $keyName = $client->cryptoKeyName($projectId, $locationId, $keyRingId, $keyId);

    // Call the API.
    $encryptRequest = (new EncryptRequest())
        ->setName($keyName)
        ->setPlaintext($plaintext);
    $encryptResponse = $client->encrypt($encryptRequest);
    printf('Ciphertext: %s' . PHP_EOL, $encryptResponse->getCiphertext());

    return $encryptResponse;
}

Python

To run this code, first set up a Python development environment and install the Cloud KMS Python SDK.

# Import base64 for printing the ciphertext.
import base64

# Import the client library.
from google.cloud import kms


def encrypt_symmetric(
    project_id: str, location_id: str, key_ring_id: str, key_id: str, plaintext: str
) -> bytes:
    """
    Encrypt plaintext using a symmetric key.

    Args:
        project_id (string): Google Cloud project ID (e.g. 'my-project').
        location_id (string): Cloud KMS location (e.g. 'us-east1').
        key_ring_id (string): ID of the Cloud KMS key ring (e.g. 'my-key-ring').
        key_id (string): ID of the key to use (e.g. 'my-key').
        plaintext (string): message to encrypt

    Returns:
        bytes: Encrypted ciphertext.

    """

    # Convert the plaintext to bytes.
    plaintext_bytes = plaintext.encode("utf-8")

    # Optional, but recommended: compute plaintext's CRC32C.
    # See crc32c() function defined below.
    plaintext_crc32c = crc32c(plaintext_bytes)

    # Create the client.
    client = kms.KeyManagementServiceClient()

    # Build the key name.
    key_name = client.crypto_key_path(project_id, location_id, key_ring_id, key_id)

    # Call the API.
    encrypt_response = client.encrypt(
        request={
            "name": key_name,
            "plaintext": plaintext_bytes,
            "plaintext_crc32c": plaintext_crc32c,
        }
    )

    # Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on encrypt_response.
    # For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
    # https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
    if not encrypt_response.verified_plaintext_crc32c:
        raise Exception("The request sent to the server was corrupted in-transit.")
    if not encrypt_response.ciphertext_crc32c == crc32c(encrypt_response.ciphertext):
        raise Exception(
            "The response received from the server was corrupted in-transit."
        )
    # End integrity verification

    print(f"Ciphertext: {base64.b64encode(encrypt_response.ciphertext)}")
    return encrypt_response


def crc32c(data: bytes) -> int:
    """
    Calculates the CRC32C checksum of the provided data.

    Args:
        data: the bytes over which the checksum should be calculated.

    Returns:
        An int representing the CRC32C checksum of the provided bytes.
    """
    import crcmod  # type: ignore

    crc32c_fun = crcmod.predefined.mkPredefinedCrcFun("crc-32c")
    return crc32c_fun(data)

Ruby

To run this code, first set up a Ruby development environment and install the Cloud KMS Ruby SDK.

# TODO(developer): uncomment these values before running the sample.
# project_id  = "my-project"
# location_id = "us-east1"
# key_ring_id = "my-key-ring"
# key_id      = "my-key"
# plaintext  = "..."

# Require the library.
require "google/cloud/kms"

# Create the client.
client = Google::Cloud::Kms.key_management_service

# Build the parent key name.
key_name = client.crypto_key_path project:    project_id,
                                  location:   location_id,
                                  key_ring:   key_ring_id,
                                  crypto_key: key_id

# Call the API.
response = client.encrypt name: key_name, plaintext: plaintext
puts "Ciphertext: #{Base64.strict_encode64 response.ciphertext}"

API

These examples use curl as an HTTP client to demonstrate using the API. For more information about access control, see Accessing the Cloud KMS API.

When using JSON and the REST API, content must be base64 encoded before it can be encrypted by Cloud KMS.

Tip: You can base64-encode or decode data using the base64 command on Linux or macOS, or the Base64.exe command on Windows. Programming and scripting languages typically include libraries for base64-encoding. For command-line examples, see Base64 Encoding in the Cloud Vision API documentation.

To encrypt data, make a POST request and provide the appropriate project and key information and specify the base64 encoded text to be encrypted in the plaintext field of the request body.

curl "https://cloudkms.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/keyRings/KEY_RING/cryptoKeys/KEY_NAME:encrypt" \
  --request "POST" \
  --header "authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
  --header "content-type: application/json" \
  --data "{\"plaintext\": \"PLAINTEXT_TO_ENCRYPT\"}"

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project that contains the key ring and key that you want to use for encryption.
• LOCATION: the Cloud KMS location that contains the key ring.
• KEY_RING: the key ring that contains the key that you want to use for encryption.
• KEY_NAME: the name of the key that you want to use for encryption.
• PLAINTEXT_TO_ENCRYPT: the plaintext data that you want to encrypt. The plaintext must be base64 encoded before you call the encrypt method.

Here is an example payload with base64 encoded data:

{
  "plaintext": "U3VwZXIgc2VjcmV0IHRleHQgdGhhdCBtdXN0IGJlIGVuY3J5cHRlZAo=",
}

Decrypt

gcloud

To use Cloud KMS on the command line, first Install or upgrade to the latest version of Google Cloud CLI.

gcloud kms decrypt \
    --key KEY_NAME \
    --keyring KEY_RING \
    --location LOCATION  \
    --ciphertext-file FILE_TO_DECRYPT \
    --plaintext-file DECRYPTED_OUTPUT

Replace the following:

• KEY_NAME: the name of the key that you want to use for decryption.
• KEY_RING: the name of the key ring that contains the key.
• LOCATION: the Cloud KMS location that contains the key ring.
• FILE_TO_DECRYPT: the path to the file that you want to decrypt.
• DECRYPTED_OUTPUT: the path where you want to save the decrypted output.

For information on all flags and possible values, run the command with the --help flag.

C#

To run this code, first set up a C# development environment and install the Cloud KMS C# SDK.

using Google.Cloud.Kms.V1;
using Google.Protobuf;
using System.Text;

public class DecryptSymmetricSample
{
    public string DecryptSymmetric(
      string projectId = "my-project", string locationId = "us-east1", string keyRingId = "my-key-ring", string keyId = "my-key",
      byte[] ciphertext = null)
    {
        // Create the client.
        KeyManagementServiceClient client = KeyManagementServiceClient.Create();

        // Build the key name.
        CryptoKeyName keyName = new CryptoKeyName(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId);

        // Call the API.
        DecryptResponse result = client.Decrypt(keyName, ByteString.CopyFrom(ciphertext));

        // Get the plaintext. Cryptographic plaintexts and ciphertexts are
        // always byte arrays.
        byte[] plaintext = result.Plaintext.ToByteArray();

        // Return the result.
        return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(plaintext);
    }
}

Go

To run this code, first set up a Go development environment and install the Cloud KMS Go SDK.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"hash/crc32"
	"io"

	kms "cloud.google.com/go/kms/apiv1"
	"cloud.google.com/go/kms/apiv1/kmspb"
	"google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/wrapperspb"
)

// decryptSymmetric will decrypt the input ciphertext bytes using the specified symmetric key.
func decryptSymmetric(w io.Writer, name string, ciphertext []byte) error {
	// name := "projects/my-project/locations/us-east1/keyRings/my-key-ring/cryptoKeys/my-key"
	// ciphertext := []byte("...")  // result of a symmetric encryption call

	// Create the client.
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := kms.NewKeyManagementClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create kms client: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// Optional, but recommended: Compute ciphertext's CRC32C.
	crc32c := func(data []byte) uint32 {
		t := crc32.MakeTable(crc32.Castagnoli)
		return crc32.Checksum(data, t)
	}
	ciphertextCRC32C := crc32c(ciphertext)

	// Build the request.
	req := &kmspb.DecryptRequest{
		Name:             name,
		Ciphertext:       ciphertext,
		CiphertextCrc32C: wrapperspb.Int64(int64(ciphertextCRC32C)),
	}

	// Call the API.
	result, err := client.Decrypt(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to decrypt ciphertext: %w", err)
	}

	// Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on result.
	// For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
	// https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
	if int64(crc32c(result.Plaintext)) != result.PlaintextCrc32C.Value {
		return fmt.Errorf("Decrypt: response corrupted in-transit")
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Decrypted plaintext: %s", result.Plaintext)
	return nil
}

Java

To run this code, first set up a Java development environment and install the Cloud KMS Java SDK.

import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.CryptoKeyName;
import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.DecryptResponse;
import com.google.cloud.kms.v1.KeyManagementServiceClient;
import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
import java.io.IOException;

public class DecryptSymmetric {

  public void decryptSymmetric() throws IOException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String locationId = "us-east1";
    String keyRingId = "my-key-ring";
    String keyId = "my-key";
    byte[] ciphertext = null;
    decryptSymmetric(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId, ciphertext);
  }

  // Decrypt data that was encrypted using a symmetric key.
  public void decryptSymmetric(
      String projectId, String locationId, String keyRingId, String keyId, byte[] ciphertext)
      throws IOException {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only
    // needs to be created once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After
    // completing all of your requests, call the "close" method on the client to
    // safely clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (KeyManagementServiceClient client = KeyManagementServiceClient.create()) {
      // Build the key version name from the project, location, key ring, and
      // key.
      CryptoKeyName keyName = CryptoKeyName.of(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId);

      // Decrypt the response.
      DecryptResponse response = client.decrypt(keyName, ByteString.copyFrom(ciphertext));
      System.out.printf("Plaintext: %s%n", response.getPlaintext().toStringUtf8());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

To run this code, first set up a Node.js development environment and install the Cloud KMS Node.js SDK.

//
// TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
//
// const projectId = 'my-project';
// const locationId = 'us-east1';
// const keyRingId = 'my-key-ring';
// const keyId = 'my-key';
// Ciphertext must be either a Buffer object or a base-64 encoded string
// const ciphertext = Buffer.from('...');

// Imports the Cloud KMS library
const {KeyManagementServiceClient} = require('@google-cloud/kms');

// Instantiates a client
const client = new KeyManagementServiceClient();

// Build the key name
const keyName = client.cryptoKeyPath(projectId, locationId, keyRingId, keyId);

// Optional, but recommended: compute ciphertext's CRC32C.
const crc32c = require('fast-crc32c');
const ciphertextCrc32c = crc32c.calculate(ciphertext);

async function decryptSymmetric() {
  const [decryptResponse] = await client.decrypt({
    name: keyName,
    ciphertext: ciphertext,
    ciphertextCrc32c: {
      value: ciphertextCrc32c,
    },
  });

  // Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on decryptResponse.
  // For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
  // https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
  if (
    crc32c.calculate(decryptResponse.plaintext) !==
    Number(decryptResponse.plaintextCrc32c.value)
  ) {
    throw new Error('Decrypt: response corrupted in-transit');
  }

  const plaintext = decryptResponse.plaintext.toString();

  console.log(`Plaintext: ${plaintext}`);
  return plaintext;
}

return decryptSymmetric();

PHP

To run this code, first learn about using PHP on Google Cloud and install the Cloud KMS PHP SDK.

use Google\Cloud\Kms\V1\Client\KeyManagementServiceClient;
use Google\Cloud\Kms\V1\DecryptRequest;

function decrypt_symmetric(
    string $projectId = 'my-project',
    string $locationId = 'us-east1',
    string $keyRingId = 'my-key-ring',
    string $keyId = 'my-key',
    string $ciphertext = '...'
) {
    // Create the Cloud KMS client.
    $client = new KeyManagementServiceClient();

    // Build the key name.
    $keyName = $client->cryptoKeyName($projectId, $locationId, $keyRingId, $keyId);

    // Call the API.
    $decryptRequest = (new DecryptRequest())
        ->setName($keyName)
        ->setCiphertext($ciphertext);
    $decryptResponse = $client->decrypt($decryptRequest);
    printf('Plaintext: %s' . PHP_EOL, $decryptResponse->getPlaintext());

    return $decryptResponse;
}

Python

To run this code, first set up a Python development environment and install the Cloud KMS Python SDK.

from google.cloud import kms


def decrypt_symmetric(
    project_id: str, location_id: str, key_ring_id: str, key_id: str, ciphertext: bytes
) -> kms.DecryptResponse:
    """
    Decrypt the ciphertext using the symmetric key

    Args:
        project_id (string): Google Cloud project ID (e.g. 'my-project').
        location_id (string): Cloud KMS location (e.g. 'us-east1').
        key_ring_id (string): ID of the Cloud KMS key ring (e.g. 'my-key-ring').
        key_id (string): ID of the key to use (e.g. 'my-key').
        ciphertext (bytes): Encrypted bytes to decrypt.

    Returns:
        DecryptResponse: Response including plaintext.

    """

    # Create the client.
    client = kms.KeyManagementServiceClient()

    # Build the key name.
    key_name = client.crypto_key_path(project_id, location_id, key_ring_id, key_id)

    # Optional, but recommended: compute ciphertext's CRC32C.
    # See crc32c() function defined below.
    ciphertext_crc32c = crc32c(ciphertext)

    # Call the API.
    decrypt_response = client.decrypt(
        request={
            "name": key_name,
            "ciphertext": ciphertext,
            "ciphertext_crc32c": ciphertext_crc32c,
        }
    )

    # Optional, but recommended: perform integrity verification on decrypt_response.
    # For more details on ensuring E2E in-transit integrity to and from Cloud KMS visit:
    # https://cloud.google.com/kms/docs/data-integrity-guidelines
    if not decrypt_response.plaintext_crc32c == crc32c(decrypt_response.plaintext):
        raise Exception(
            "The response received from the server was corrupted in-transit."
        )
    # End integrity verification

    print(f"Plaintext: {decrypt_response.plaintext!r}")
    return decrypt_response


def crc32c(data: bytes) -> int:
    """
    Calculates the CRC32C checksum of the provided data.
    Args:
        data: the bytes over which the checksum should be calculated.
    Returns:
        An int representing the CRC32C checksum of the provided bytes.
    """
    import crcmod  # type: ignore

    crc32c_fun = crcmod.predefined.mkPredefinedCrcFun("crc-32c")
    return crc32c_fun(data)

Ruby

To run this code, first set up a Ruby development environment and install the Cloud KMS Ruby SDK.

# TODO(developer): uncomment these values before running the sample.
# project_id  = "my-project"
# location_id = "us-east1"
# key_ring_id = "my-key-ring"
# key_id      = "my-key"
# ciphertext  = "..."

# Require the library.
require "google/cloud/kms"

# Create the client.
client = Google::Cloud::Kms.key_management_service

# Build the parent key name.
key_name = client.crypto_key_path project:    project_id,
                                  location:   location_id,
                                  key_ring:   key_ring_id,
                                  crypto_key: key_id

# Call the API.
response = client.decrypt name: key_name, ciphertext: ciphertext
puts "Plaintext: #{response.plaintext}"

API

These examples use curl as an HTTP client to demonstrate using the API. For more information about access control, see Accessing the Cloud KMS API.

Decrypted text that is returned in the JSON from Cloud KMS is base64 encoded.

Tip: You can base64-encode or decode data using the base64 command on Linux or macOS, or the Base64.exe command on Windows. Programming and scripting languages typically include libraries for base64-encoding. For command-line examples, see Base64 Encoding in the Cloud Vision API documentation.

To decrypt encrypted data, make a POST request and provide the appropriate project and key information and specify the encrypted text (also known as ciphertext) to be decrypted in the ciphertext field of the request body.

curl "https://cloudkms.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/keyRings/KEY_RING/cryptoKeys/KEY_NAME:decrypt" \
  --request "POST" \
  --header "authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
  --header "content-type: application/json" \
  --data "{\"ciphertext\": \"ENCRYPTED_DATA\"}"

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project that contains the key ring and key that you want to use for decryption.
• LOCATION: the Cloud KMS location that contains the key ring.
• KEY_RING: the key ring that contains the key that you want to use for decryption.
• KEY_NAME: the name of the key that you want to use for decryption.
• ENCRYPTED_DATA: the encrypted data that you want to decrypt.

Here is an example payload with base64 encoded data:

{
  "ciphertext": "CiQAhMwwBo61cHas7dDgifrUFs5zNzBJ2uZtVFq4ZPEl6fUVT4kSmQ...",
}

What's next

• Read more about raw symmetric encryption.
• Read more about envelope encryption.
• Try the Encrypt and decrypt data with Cloud KMS Codelab.