brix/crypto-js

CryptoJS is a JavaScript library that provides common cryptographic algorithms for use in web browsers and Node.js. Cryptography refers to the techniques for encoding data so it stays secret or can be verified, things like hashing (turning data into a fixed-length fingerprint) and encryption (scrambling data so only someone with the right key can read it). The library supports a wide range of algorithms. For hashing it includes MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512, and others. For encryption it supports AES (the most widely used symmetric encryption standard today), Triple DES, RC4, and Rabbit. It also supports HMAC (a method for verifying that a message has not been tampered with using a secret key) and PBKDF2 (a technique for deriving secure keys from passwords). You would use CryptoJS if you need to encrypt data on the client side, hash passwords or messages, or sign API requests in a JavaScript web app. The code examples in the README show typical API call signing: hashing a message, then generating an HMAC signature with a private key. One important note: the README explicitly states that active development of CryptoJS has been discontinued. The authors recommend using the native Crypto module built into modern browsers and Node.js instead, since CryptoJS would now only be a thin wrapper around that native module anyway. If you are starting a new project, consider using the platform's built-in cryptography tools rather than this library.