8.3. The Security Class

The Security class (java.security.Security) is responsible for managing the set of provider classes that a Java program can use, and forms the last link in the architecture of the security provider. This class is final, and all its methods are static (except for its constructor, which is private). Like the System and Math classes, then, the Security class can never be created or subclassed; it exists simply to provide a placeholder for methods that deal with the java.security package.

Earlier, we explained how to add entries to the java.security file to add new providers to the security architecture. The same feat can be accomplished programmatically via these methods of the Security class: