# pycrypto/pycrypto

The Python Cryptography Toolkit

Repository: https://github.com/pycrypto/pycrypto
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pycrypto
Homepage: https://www.pycrypto.org/
Language: Python
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Archived: true
Last push: 2022-01-26T16:04:12+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5756, "days_push": 1680, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2474, forks 630 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:54.863671+00:00)

## What it is
PyCrypto is the Python Cryptography Toolkit, providing secure hash functions (SHA256, RIPEMD160) and encryption algorithms (AES, DES, RSA, ElGamal) plus a random number generator. It is officially unmaintained, obsolete, and contains known security vulnerabilities.

## Use cases
- encrypt and decrypt data with AES in Python
- compute SHA256 hashes of messages
- generate RSA key pairs and encrypt data
- generate cryptographically secure random bytes
- build secure client-server communication with encryption
- prototype cryptographic algorithms in Python

## When to choose
- you are studying or maintaining legacy code that already depends on PyCrypto 2.x
- you need the historical API for reference purposes

## When to avoid
- starting any new Python project requiring cryptography - use the 'cryptography' package instead
- existing PyCrypto-dependent code where a drop-in replacement is acceptable - use PyCryptodome
- any security-sensitive production system, since PyCrypto has known vulnerabilities

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: cryptography, security
- domain: security, developer-tools
- platform: python, cross-platform
- tags: deprecated, encryption, hashing, aes, rsa, unmaintained

## Member repositories
- pycrypto/pycrypto (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:54.863671+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:28:26.842517+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pycrypto/pycrypto (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:54.863671+00:00, sha 1eef49a6ba46)
  - homepage: https://www.pycrypto.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:10:48.077209+00:00, sha b9f54f06c20e)
  - site_page: https://www.pycrypto.org/api (fetched 2026-08-29T10:10:48.086202+00:00, sha d7597175aee0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.