news.html

---
layout: default
title: KeyStore Explorer - News
---

<div class="page-header">
    <h1>News</h1>
</div>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.6.1 Released - 3 Jan 2026</h2>
<p>
    The highlights of this release are:
    <ul>
        <li>Verification of JAR files</li>
        <li>Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms: ML-DSA, ML-KEM and SLH-DSA</li>
        <li>Support for SM2 and ECGOST algorithms</li>
        <li>Many usability improvements</li>
    </ul>
</p>
<p>
    The complete and detailed list of changes can be found in the <a href="releases.html">release notes</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.6.0 Released - 17 May 2025</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.6.0 contains more than 50 new features, improvements and bug fixes.
    The highlights of this release are:
    <ul>
        <li>A password manager for keystore passwords</li>
        <li>Extended JWT support (verification of JWTs and key export in JWK format)</li>
        <li>Signing of arbitrary files with PKCS#7/CMS and verification of those signatures</li>
        <li>Improvements for PKCS#12 (low level content viewer, same password for all keys)</li>
    </ul>
</p>
<p>
Also included are three new translations:
    <ul>
        <li>Spanish</li>
        <li>Russian</li>
        <li>Chinese</li>
    </ul>
</p>
<p>
    Internally a lot has changed as well. The way the application settings are managed and stored has been completely
    rewritten. The minimum supported Java version is now Java 11. This allowed to remove many workarounds for older Java
    versions.
</p>
<p>
    As always, the complete and detailed list of changes can be found in the <a href="releases.html">release notes</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.5.3 Released - 29 Dec 2023</h2>
<p>
    This release contains lots of small improvements and a few bug fixes.
</p>
<p>
    The complete list of changes can be found in the <a href="releases.html">release notes</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">The 10th Anniversary of the First Open Source Release - 19 Oct 2023</h2>
<p>
    <p>Today we are celebrating a decade of KeyStore Explorer as open source software. On October 19, 2013 version 5.0.0
      of KeyStore Explorer was released under the GPLv3 license on Sourceforge. </p>

    <p>The history of KSE up to this date and how it became open source was
    documented by its creator Wayne in a very captivating manner in his blog. If you haven't read this story yet, here are
    the links:</p>
    <p>
      <ul>
        <li>
          <a href="history/index.html#a-history-of-keystore-explorer-–-part-one-2011-12-22">
            A History of KeyStore Explorer – Part One
          </a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="history/index.html#a-history-of-keystore-explorer-–-part-two-2012-02-21">
            A History of KeyStore Explorer – Part Two
          </a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="history/index.html#a-history-of-keystore-explorer-–-part-three-2012-05-18">
            A History of KeyStore Explorer – Part Three
          </a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="history/index.html#new-owner-wanted-for-keystore-explorer-2012-10-18">
            New Owner Wanted for KeyStore Explorer
          </a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="history/index.html#new-owner-found-for-keystore-explorer-2013-07-30">
            New Owner Found for KeyStore Explorer
          </a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="history/index.html#keystore-explorer-–-oss-update-2013-08-31">
            KeyStore Explorer – OSS Update
          </a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="history/index.html#keystore-explorer-now-open-source-2013-10-19">
            KeyStore Explorer Now Open Source
          </a>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </p>
    <p>In those last 10 years more than 100 new features have been added in 18 releases. To name just a few of the most important ones:
    <ul>
      <li>Support for ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography), EdDSA (Ed25519 and Ed448) and RSASSA-PSS signatures</li>
      <li>Support for MSCAPI and PKCS#11, allowing the use of smart cards and HSMs with KSE</li>
      <li>System clipboard integration</li>
      <li>More CA features like extension templates, custom certificate extensions and CRL creation</li>
      <li>JWT (JSON Web Token) creation</li>
    </ul>
    </p>
    <p>Many of those features were user contributions. All in all almost 30 persons have contributed code or translations to
      this project and I want to thank all of them for making this project what it is today! The top 5 contributors are:
      <table  class="table table-striped">
        <tr>
          <th>Contributor</th>
          <th>Commits</th>
          <th>Additions</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>Jairo Graterón</td>
          <td>49</td>
          <td>6,825</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>Frank Dietrich</td>
          <td>48</td>
          <td>4,630</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>Colbix</td>
          <td>38</td>
          <td>3,170</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>Davy Defaud</td>
          <td>32</td>
          <td>11,376</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>The-Lum</td>
          <td>18</td>
          <td>1,595</td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </p>
    <p>There has been a constant rise in the user count over the last 10 years as well. In 2013, monthly downloads averaged
      1,500, but today, that figure has increased to around 35,000.</p>
    <p>What is planned for the future? KSE v5.6.0 will be the next big feature release, and it will focus on the following topics:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>Improved PKCS#12 support</li>
      <li>Extended verification features (verifying signatures of jars and CSRs)</li>
      <li>Extended JWT support (for example key import/export in JWK format)</li>
    </ul>
</p>


<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.5.2 Released - 22 Jan 2023</h2>
<p>
    This release contains lots of small improvements and a few bug fixes.
</p>
<p>
    Highlights:
    <ul>
        <li>Improved key details dialogs with more information about the keys.</li>
        <li>The subject DN and extensions for a new certificate can now be obtained from another certificate (button "Transfer
          Name and Extensions").</li>
        <li>A redesigned preferences dialog.</li>
    </ul>
</p>
<p>
    The complete list of changes can be found in the <a href="releases.html">release notes</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.5.1 Released - 27 Jan 2022</h2>
<p>
    Highlights of this release:
    <ul>
        <li>KSE can now create and sign JWTs (JSON Web Tokens).</li>
        <li>The French translation has been extended and improved.</li>
        <li>A bug that made the import of CA replies with EC keys impossible has been fixed.</li>
    </ul>
</p>
<p>
    The complete list of changes can be found in the <a href="releases.html">release notes</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.5.0 Released - 5 Dec 2021</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.5.0 contains more than 40 new features, improvements
    and bug fixes. As always the complete and detailed list of changes can be
    found in the <a href="releases.html">release notes</a>.
</p>
<p>
    The downloads are <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">One Million Downloads - 14 Oct 2020</h2>
<p>
    Today KeyStore Explorer has crossed one million downloads on GitHub. <img src="images/party-popper-icon.png" alt=""
    height="24" width="24" style="vertical-align: baseline;"/>
    This includes all releases since November 2015. Not included are downloads from the time when KSE was hosted on
    Sourceforge (2013 - 2015) or when KSE was Closed Source (2004 - 2013). It took around three years to reach 500,000
    downloads and then only two more years for one million, which shows that the number of users is steadily increasing.
</p>
<p>
    If you are interested in a more detailed breakdown of the download numbers, there is a nice website called
    <a href="https://somsubhra.github.io/github-release-stats/?username=kaikramer&repository=keystore-explorer&page=1&per_page=20">GitHub Release Stats</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.4.4 Released - 4 Oct 2020</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.4.4 brings some minor improvements and bug fixes. The macOS version now comes with a bundled Java runtime.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release54.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.4.3 Released - 8 Mar 2020</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.4.3 brings some new features and improvements.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release54.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">Online User Manual - 31 Dec 2019</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer's user manual is now part of this website. Future releases of
    KeyStore Explorer won't include a user manual anymore. Instead the menu item 'Help'
    will link to the online user manual.
</p>
<p>
    Please keep in mind that you can contribute to the KeyStore Explorer project by
    improving the documentation. Like KeyStore Explorer itself this website is managed in a
    <a href="https://github.com/kaikramer/kaikramer.github.io">repository on GitHub</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.4.2 Released - 11 Aug 2019</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.4.2 brings enhancements, bugfixes and a new version of appbundler (the macOS launcher).
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release54.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">Half a Million Downloads on GitHub - 02 Dec 2018</h2>
<p>
    Almost exactly three years ago KeyStore Explorer moved from Sourceforge to GitHub. Since then it has been
    downloaded more than 500,000 times, forked almost 100 times and starred more than 400 times.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.4.1 Released - 27 Oct 2018</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.4.1 is a small bugfix release.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release54.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.4.0 Released - 20 Sep 2018</h2>
<p>
    <a href="downloads.html">KeyStore Explorer 5.4.0</a> is a huge feature release. See the <a href="release54.html">release
        notes</a> for a list of all changes.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.3.2 Released - 19 Dec 2017</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.3.2 is a small bugfix release.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release53.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.3.1 Released - 01 Nov 2017</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.3.1 is a small bugfix release.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release53.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.3.0 Released - 01 Aug 2017</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.3.0 includes many new features, enhancements and bugfixes.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release53.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.2.2 Released - 27 Nov 2016</h2>
<p>
    <a href="release52.html">KSE 5.2.2</a> is mainly a maintenance release, but also includes another translation.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.2.1 Released - 13 Aug 2016</h2>
<p>
    Three months have passed since the release of KSE 5.2 and a couple of bugs have been reported - time for a bugfix
    release.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release52.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.2.0 Released - 15 May 2016</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.2.0 includes many new features, improvements and bugfixes.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release52.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">Contribution Guide Added - 27 Apr 2016</h2>
<p>
    A new <a href="contribute.html">page</a> has been added to this website that contains suggestions and guidelines
    on how to contribute to the KeyStore Explorer project.
</p>
<p>
    It also contains a list of contributors.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE Now Has Its Own Domain - 22 Nov 2015</h2>
<p>
    This website is now also available under <a href="http://www.keystore-explorer.org">www.keystore-explorer.org</a>
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE Has Moved to GitHub - 21 Nov 2015</h2>
<p>
    A code repository for KSE has been created on GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/kaikramer/keystore-explorer">KeyStore
        Explorer on GitHub</a>
</p>
<p>
    The repository on Sourceforge will soon be removed.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.1.1 Released - 28 Mar 2015</h2>
<p>
    <a href="downloads.html">KeyStore Explorer 5.1.1</a> is a bugfix release. See the <a href="release51.html">release
        notes</a> for details.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.1.0 Released - 02 Aug 2014</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.1.0 includes many new features, improvements and bugfixes.
</p>
<p>
    See the <a href="release51.html">release notes</a> for details and download it <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.0.1 Released - 24 Nov 2013</h2>
<p>
    <a href="downloads.html">KeyStore Explorer 5.0.1</a> is a bug fix release. See the <a href="release50.html">release
        notes</a> for details.
</p>

<h2 class="h3 page-header">KSE 5.0.0 Released - 19 Oct 2013</h2>
<p>
    KeyStore Explorer 5.0.0 has been released today. See the <a href="release50.html">release notes</a> for details.
</p>
<p>
    The downloads are available <a href="downloads.html">here</a>.
</p>