An applet is a special java class that is executed on computer client in the same manner that you execute the command java -jar for this reason an applet can perform everything on your machine for example it has an access on your file system and it can copy everything from/to your computer, it can read all your mails and your documents etc.
Every applications that runs on your computer are virtually dangerous, every applications can violate your privacy, when you download a windows application (with exe extension) and execute it, this application can damage your computer for the same way a jar file or apk Android application etc.
Internet applications are different from the applets because the application runs on server and can damage server file system not your computer.
Not all internet applications run on computer server, there are some application that runs on your computer, for example javascript code, jquery, flash but these script are safety because work only with your browser and don’t have an access of your file system.
Applet is different because it is jar archive that runs on your machine and shows the User Interface on your browser, it is not a web application but it is a java application that uses your browser only to load the UI.
I written a simple applet to encrypt/decrypt text with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm, this is used also in encryptable notepad.
To execute this applet you can click here
The operation necessaries for loading my applet on your PC are written below:
- you have to enable popup and java applets on your computer
- you have to update the version of Java Virtual Machine emulated by your browser
- you have to allow my website to execute applet. On windows computer you have to connect clicking on “Control Panel”-> java ->security. and then you have to write “www.rizzimichele.it” in the table below
This is the screenshot
The security warning shows that an applet performs a unknown operation on your computer, this is normal because it reads the key text, reads the document and encrypts it with AES algorithm
