diff --git a/cryptography/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/cryptography/EncryptionAlgorithm.java b/cryptography/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/cryptography/EncryptionAlgorithm.java
index e0979c9a2..603ddb494 100644
--- a/cryptography/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/cryptography/EncryptionAlgorithm.java
+++ b/cryptography/src/main/java/com/salesforce/apollo/cryptography/EncryptionAlgorithm.java
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ final public SecretKey decapsulate(PrivateKey privateKey, byte[] encapsulated, S
             var kem = KEM.getInstance(DHKEM);
             return kem.newDecapsulator(privateKey).decapsulate(encapsulated, 0, encapsulated.length, algorithm);
         } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException | InvalidKeyException | DecapsulateException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid public key", e);
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("error decapsulating", e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ final public KEM.Encapsulated encapsulated(PublicKey publicKey) {
             var kem = KEM.getInstance(DHKEM);
             return kem.newEncapsulator(publicKey).encapsulate();
         } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException | InvalidKeyException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid public key", e);
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("error encapsulating", e);
         }
     }