code: private byte[] decodeBytes(String cipherString) {
          String[] cipherStringBytes = cipherString.split(":");
          byte[] cipherBytes = new byte[cipherStringBytes.length];
          for (int i = 0; i < cipherStringBytes.length; i++) {
              cipherBytes[i] = Byte.parseByte(cipherStringBytes[i]);
          }
          return cipherBytes;
      }
docs: Decodes a String back into a byte array.