Creating Signed API Calls in Swift: Understanding HMAC-SHA256
As a developer, you’re likely familiar with the importance of authentication and security in your APIs. One crucial aspect is generating signatures for requests to verify authenticity and prevent tampering. In this article, we’ll explore how to create signed API calls using Swift and HMAC-SHA256.
What is HMAC-SHA256?
HMAC-SHA256 (Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code with SHA-256) is a cryptographic algorithm that combines a secret key with a message (in our case, the encoded request data) to produce a fixed-size signature. This signature can be used for authentication and verification purposes.
Creating a Signed Request in Swift
To create a signed API call, you’ll need to:
- Encode your request data: Create an encoded representation of your request data using a library like
Data
or a custom implementation.
- Generate a secret key
: Use a secure method (e.g., using the
secrets' framework) to generate a private key for signing.
- Create a signature: Use the HMAC-SHA256 algorithm to compute a digital signature based on your encoded request data and secret key.
Example Code: Signed API Call in Swift
Import Foundation
class EthereumAPI {
let apiKey = "your_api_key"
let apiSecret = "your_api_secret"
func signedRequest(_ requestData: [String: String]) -> ([String: String], Data) {
// Encode the request data
guard let encodedData = try? JSONEncoder().encode(requestData) else { return [], Data() }
// Generate a secret key using the secrets framework
let secretKey = try! SecretKey.generate(apiKey: apiKey, apiSecret: apiSecret)
// Create a signature based on the HMAC-SHA256 algorithm
guard let signature = hmacSHA256(secretKey, encodedData) else { return [], Data() }
// Return the request data and signature as an array of tuples
return [("code": -1022), ("msg": "Signed Request"), ("signature": signature)], encodedData
}
}
Explanation
In this example:
- We first encode the request data using JSONEncoder
.
- We generate a secret key usingSecretKey.generate`, which is an API-issued key.
- We create a signature based on the HMAC-SHA256 algorithm, passing in the encoded request data and our secret key.
- Finally, we return the original request data with the signed signature as a tuple of tuples.
Example Usage
let api = EthereumAPI()
let requestData = ["code": -1022, "msg": "Test Request"]
let (signedRequest, signature) = try? api.signedRequest(requestData)
print("Signed Request: \(signedRequest)")
This will output the original request data with a signed HMAC-SHA256 signature.