diff --git a/authenticate/authenticate.go b/authenticate/authenticate.go
index 19c4bc38e..f2844d1d8 100644
--- a/authenticate/authenticate.go
+++ b/authenticate/authenticate.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pomerium/envconfig"
 
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/authenticate/providers"
-	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/sessions"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/templates"
 )
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ type Authenticator struct {
 	// sesion related
 	csrfStore    sessions.CSRFStore
 	sessionStore sessions.SessionStore
-	cipher       aead.Cipher
+	cipher       cryptutil.Cipher
 
 	provider providers.Provider
 }
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ func NewAuthenticator(opts *Options, optionFuncs ...func(*Authenticator) error)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	cipher, err := aead.New([]byte(decodedAuthCodeSecret))
+	cipher, err := cryptutil.NewCipher([]byte(decodedAuthCodeSecret))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/authenticate/handlers.go b/authenticate/handlers.go
index b05c7735b..05373cde2 100644
--- a/authenticate/handlers.go
+++ b/authenticate/handlers.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/httputil"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/log"
 	m "github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/middleware"
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ func (p *Authenticator) SignOutPage(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, m
 // `redirectURI`, allowing the provider to redirect back to the sso proxy after authentication.
 func (p *Authenticator) OAuthStart(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 
-	nonce := fmt.Sprintf("%x", aead.GenerateKey())
+	nonce := fmt.Sprintf("%x", cryptutil.GenerateKey())
 	p.csrfStore.SetCSRF(rw, req, nonce)
 
 	authRedirectURL, err := url.Parse(req.URL.Query().Get("redirect_uri"))
diff --git a/internal/aead/mock_cipher.go b/internal/aead/mock_cipher.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 619dbd1a6..000000000
--- a/internal/aead/mock_cipher.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-package aead // import "github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
-
-import (
-	"encoding/json"
-)
-
-// MockCipher is a mock of the cipher interface
-type MockCipher struct {
-	MarshalError   error
-	MarshalString  string
-	UnmarshalError error
-	UnmarshalBytes []byte
-}
-
-// Encrypt returns an empty byte array and nil
-func (mc *MockCipher) Encrypt([]byte) ([]byte, error) {
-	return []byte{}, nil
-}
-
-// Decrypt returns an empty byte array and nil
-func (mc *MockCipher) Decrypt([]byte) ([]byte, error) {
-	return []byte{}, nil
-}
-
-// Marshal returns the marshal string and marsha error
-func (mc *MockCipher) Marshal(interface{}) (string, error) {
-	return mc.MarshalString, mc.MarshalError
-}
-
-// Unmarshal unmarshals the unmarshal bytes to be set in s and returns the unmarshal error
-func (mc *MockCipher) Unmarshal(b string, s interface{}) error {
-	json.Unmarshal(mc.UnmarshalBytes, s)
-	return mc.UnmarshalError
-}
diff --git a/internal/aead/aead.go b/internal/cryptutil/encrypt.go
similarity index 82%
rename from internal/aead/aead.go
rename to internal/cryptutil/encrypt.go
index 1c12f1054..c5e84dde6 100644
--- a/internal/aead/aead.go
+++ b/internal/cryptutil/encrypt.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package aead // import "github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+package cryptutil // import "github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
@@ -9,11 +9,20 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"sync"
 
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/chacha20poly1305"
 )
 
+// GenerateKey generates a random 32-byte key.
+// Panics if source of randomness fails.
+func GenerateKey() []byte {
+	key := make([]byte, 32)
+	if _, err := rand.Read(key); err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return key
+}
+
 // Cipher provides methods to encrypt and decrypt values.
 type Cipher interface {
 	Encrypt([]byte) ([]byte, error)
@@ -27,12 +36,10 @@ type Cipher interface {
 // For a description of the methodology, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticated_encryption
 type XChaCha20Cipher struct {
 	aead cipher.AEAD
-
-	mu sync.Mutex
 }
 
-// New returns a new AES Cipher for encrypting values
-func New(secret []byte) (*XChaCha20Cipher, error) {
+// NewCipher returns a new XChacha20poly1305 cipher.
+func NewCipher(secret []byte) (*XChaCha20Cipher, error) {
 	aead, err := chacha20poly1305.NewX(secret)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -42,20 +49,10 @@ func New(secret []byte) (*XChaCha20Cipher, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
-// GenerateKey generates a random 32-byte encryption key.
-// Panics if the key size is unsupported or source of randomness fails.
-func GenerateKey() []byte {
-	nonce := make([]byte, chacha20poly1305.KeySize)
-	if _, err := rand.Read(nonce); err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
-	return nonce
-}
-
-// GenerateNonce generates a random 24-byte nonce for XChaCha20-Poly1305.
-// Panics if the key size is unsupported or source of randomness fails.
-func GenerateNonce() []byte {
-	nonce := make([]byte, chacha20poly1305.NonceSizeX)
+// GenerateNonce generates a random nonce.
+// Panics if source of randomness fails.
+func (c *XChaCha20Cipher) GenerateNonce() []byte {
+	nonce := make([]byte, c.aead.NonceSize())
 	if _, err := rand.Read(nonce); err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
@@ -64,15 +61,12 @@ func GenerateNonce() []byte {
 
 // Encrypt a value using XChaCha20-Poly1305
 func (c *XChaCha20Cipher) Encrypt(plaintext []byte) (joined []byte, err error) {
-	c.mu.Lock()
-	defer c.mu.Unlock()
-
 	defer func() {
 		if r := recover(); r != nil {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("internal/aead: error encrypting bytes: %v", r)
 		}
 	}()
-	nonce := GenerateNonce()
+	nonce := c.GenerateNonce()
 
 	ciphertext := c.aead.Seal(nil, nonce, plaintext, nil)
 
@@ -83,14 +77,11 @@ func (c *XChaCha20Cipher) Encrypt(plaintext []byte) (joined []byte, err error) {
 
 // Decrypt a value using XChaCha20-Poly1305
 func (c *XChaCha20Cipher) Decrypt(joined []byte) ([]byte, error) {
-	c.mu.Lock()
-	defer c.mu.Unlock()
-
-	if len(joined) <= chacha20poly1305.NonceSizeX {
+	if len(joined) <= c.aead.NonceSize() {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("internal/aead: invalid input size: %d", len(joined))
 	}
 	// grab out the nonce
-	pivot := len(joined) - chacha20poly1305.NonceSizeX
+	pivot := len(joined) - c.aead.NonceSize()
 	ciphertext := joined[:pivot]
 	nonce := joined[pivot:]
 
diff --git a/internal/aead/aead_test.go b/internal/cryptutil/encrypt_test.go
similarity index 94%
rename from internal/aead/aead_test.go
rename to internal/cryptutil/encrypt_test.go
index 2c8fd96e4..1c0a70383 100644
--- a/internal/aead/aead_test.go
+++ b/internal/cryptutil/encrypt_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package aead // import "github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+package cryptutil // import "github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 
 import (
 	"crypto/rand"
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ func TestEncodeAndDecodeAccessToken(t *testing.T) {
 	plaintext := []byte("my plain text value")
 
 	key := GenerateKey()
-	c, err := New([]byte(key))
+	c, err := NewCipher([]byte(key))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected err: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func TestEncodeAndDecodeAccessToken(t *testing.T) {
 func TestMarshalAndUnmarshalStruct(t *testing.T) {
 	key := GenerateKey()
 
-	c, err := New([]byte(key))
+	c, err := NewCipher([]byte(key))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected err: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ func TestMarshalAndUnmarshalStruct(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestCipherDataRace(t *testing.T) {
-	miscreantCipher, err := New(GenerateKey())
+	cipher, err := NewCipher(GenerateKey())
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected generating cipher err: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func TestCipherDataRace(t *testing.T) {
 				t.Fatalf("expected structs to be equal")
 			}
 
-		}(miscreantCipher, wg)
+		}(cipher, wg)
 	}
 	wg.Wait()
 }
diff --git a/internal/sessions/cookie_store.go b/internal/sessions/cookie_store.go
index d26b036b8..43bacc765 100644
--- a/internal/sessions/cookie_store.go
+++ b/internal/sessions/cookie_store.go
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 )
 
 // ErrInvalidSession is an error for invalid sessions.
@@ -36,14 +36,14 @@ type CookieStore struct {
 	CookieSecure       bool
 	CookieHTTPOnly     bool
 	CookieDomain       string
-	CookieCipher       aead.Cipher
+	CookieCipher       cryptutil.Cipher
 	SessionLifetimeTTL time.Duration
 }
 
 // CreateMiscreantCookieCipher creates a new miscreant cipher with the cookie secret
 func CreateMiscreantCookieCipher(cookieSecret []byte) func(s *CookieStore) error {
 	return func(s *CookieStore) error {
-		cipher, err := aead.New(cookieSecret)
+		cipher, err := cryptutil.NewCipher(cookieSecret)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("miscreant cookie-secret error: %s", err.Error())
 		}
diff --git a/internal/sessions/session_state.go b/internal/sessions/session_state.go
index 7e211120d..0f3f663fc 100644
--- a/internal/sessions/session_state.go
+++ b/internal/sessions/session_state.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -48,13 +48,13 @@ func isExpired(t time.Time) bool {
 
 // MarshalSession marshals the session state as JSON, encrypts the JSON using the
 // given cipher, and base64-encodes the result
-func MarshalSession(s *SessionState, c aead.Cipher) (string, error) {
+func MarshalSession(s *SessionState, c cryptutil.Cipher) (string, error) {
 	return c.Marshal(s)
 }
 
 // UnmarshalSession takes the marshaled string, base64-decodes into a byte slice, decrypts the
 // byte slice using the passed cipher, and unmarshals the resulting JSON into a session state struct
-func UnmarshalSession(value string, c aead.Cipher) (*SessionState, error) {
+func UnmarshalSession(value string, c cryptutil.Cipher) (*SessionState, error) {
 	s := &SessionState{}
 	err := c.Unmarshal(value, s)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/sessions/session_state_test.go b/internal/sessions/session_state_test.go
index a1cb5d392..8523611ba 100644
--- a/internal/sessions/session_state_test.go
+++ b/internal/sessions/session_state_test.go
@@ -5,12 +5,12 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 )
 
 func TestSessionStateSerialization(t *testing.T) {
-	secret := aead.GenerateKey()
-	c, err := aead.New([]byte(secret))
+	secret := cryptutil.GenerateKey()
+	c, err := cryptutil.NewCipher([]byte(secret))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("expected to be able to create cipher: %v", err)
 	}
diff --git a/proxy/authenticator/authenticator.go b/proxy/authenticator/authenticator.go
index b644e8b21..4ee670ef7 100644
--- a/proxy/authenticator/authenticator.go
+++ b/proxy/authenticator/authenticator.go
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ func NewAuthenticateClient(uri *url.URL, sharedKey string, sessionValid, session
 	return &AuthenticateClient{
 		AuthenticateServiceURL: uri,
 
-		// ClientID:  clientID,
 		SharedKey: sharedKey,
 
 		SignInURL:   uri.ResolveReference(&url.URL{Path: "/sign_in"}),
@@ -258,7 +257,6 @@ func (p *AuthenticateClient) ValidateSessionState(s *sessions.SessionState) bool
 		// authentication, and is merely unavailable, we validate and continue
 		// as normal during the "grace period"
 		if isProviderUnavailable(resp.StatusCode) && p.withinGracePeriod(s) {
-			//tags := []string{"action:validate_session", "error:validation_failed"}
 			s.ValidDeadline = extendDeadline(p.SessionValidTTL)
 			return true
 		}
diff --git a/proxy/handlers.go b/proxy/handlers.go
index ea6d4f7ad..67f2d56f1 100644
--- a/proxy/handlers.go
+++ b/proxy/handlers.go
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"reflect"
 
-	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/httputil"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/log"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/middleware"
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func (p *Proxy) OAuthStart(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	callbackURL := p.GetRedirectURL(req.Host)
 
 	// generate nonce
-	key := aead.GenerateKey()
+	key := cryptutil.GenerateKey()
 
 	// state prevents cross site forgery and maintain state across the client and server
 	state := &StateParameter{
diff --git a/proxy/proxy.go b/proxy/proxy.go
index f636a9433..ed07e6aa5 100755
--- a/proxy/proxy.go
+++ b/proxy/proxy.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pomerium/envconfig"
-	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/aead"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/cryptutil"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/log"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/sessions"
 	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/templates"
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ type Proxy struct {
 	// services
 	authenticateClient *authenticator.AuthenticateClient
 	// session
-	cipher       aead.Cipher
+	cipher       cryptutil.Cipher
 	csrfStore    sessions.CSRFStore
 	sessionStore sessions.SessionStore
 
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ func NewProxy(opts *Options) (*Proxy, error) {
 
 	// error explicitly handled by validate
 	decodedSecret, _ := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(opts.CookieSecret)
-	cipher, err := aead.New(decodedSecret)
+	cipher, err := cryptutil.NewCipher(decodedSecret)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cookie-secret error: %s", err.Error())
 	}