diff --git a/middleware/cookie.js b/middleware/cookie.js
index ed5aef4..016aed1 100644
--- a/middleware/cookie.js
+++ b/middleware/cookie.js
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 const express = require('express');
 const router = express.Router();
 
+const base = require('js-base64');
+
 const cookie_parse = require('cookie-parser');
 const cookie_encrypt = require('cookie-encrypter');
 
-const { APP_KEY } = process.env;
+const APP_KEY = Buffer.from(process.env.APP_KEY, 'base64');
 
-router.use(cookie_parse(APP_KEY))
+router.use(cookie_parse(APP_KEY));
 router.use(cookie_encrypt(APP_KEY));
 
 module.exports = router
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8d21b62..7ddaf5a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
     "connect-redis": "^6.1.3",
     "cookie-encrypter": "^1.0.1",
     "cookie-parser": "^1.4.6",
-    "crc-32": "^1.2.2",
     "dotenv": "^16.0.3",
+    "easy-crc": "^1.1.0",
     "express": "^4.18.2",
     "express-async-handler": "^1.2.0",
     "express-minify": "^1.0.0",
diff --git a/scripts/generate_key.py b/scripts/generate_key.py
index 14bddc4..270a167 100755
--- a/scripts/generate_key.py
+++ b/scripts/generate_key.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ if (not os.path.exists('.env')):
     print('No .env file found. Please create a dotenv to proceed.');
     exit(-1);
 
-key_bytes = secrets.token_bytes(32 * 8);
+key_bytes = secrets.token_bytes(32);
 dotenv_text = '';
 
 with open('.env', 'tr', encoding='utf-8') as f:
diff --git a/startup.js b/startup.js
index 2babc77..c3d67e9 100644
--- a/startup.js
+++ b/startup.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 console.log('Executing startup jobs...');
 
 const fs = require('fs');
-const crc32 = require('crc-32');
+const { crc32 } = require('easy-crc');
 const glob = require('glob');
 const { exec } = require('child_process');
 
@@ -59,11 +59,7 @@ glob('data/userdata/*_gpgkey', async (err, files) => {
 
 });
 
-// TODO: perhaps a better approach to storing it????
-//                                                               ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
-process.env.APP_KEY = Buffer.from(process.env.APP_KEY, 'base64').toString('ascii');
-
-console.log('Using a key with CRC32: ' + crc32.str(process.env.APP_KEY).toString(16));
+console.log('Using a key with CRC32: ' + crc32('CRC-32', process.env.APP_KEY));
 
 async function startup() {
     let t1 = hrt();