Portable File Encryption with PHP and Java

I had a client project come up recently that required HIPAA compliance which meant encryption was going to be involved. The goal was to collect patient information and then store it in encrypted pdf files so they could be downloaded, decrypted, and entered into another system. It did not sound like the most efficient system however that was the spec I was given. I had never worked with symmetric encryption before although it has always been a topic of interest so I jumped at the opportunity to expand my knowledge of cryptography.