when I try to import it into Python, I receive this error:

ImportError: nf_decrypt.so: undefined symbol: _ZN8CryptoPP21SimpleKeyingInterface6SetKeyEPKhmRKNS_14NameValuePairsE [...]

This does not sound like a Python problem. Are you linking with the appropriate -lfoo switches? -- VZ Thanks VZ! I wasn't linking in Crypto++ correctly. I got it working. Now have to figure out how to convert Python buffer objects to C++ std::strings.