# Encryption / Cryptography
# RijndaelManaged
Required Namespace: System.Security.Cryptography
private class Encryption {
private const string SecretKey = "topSecretKeyusedforEncryptions";
private const string SecretIv = "secretVectorHere";
public string Encrypt(string data) {
return string.IsNullOrEmpty(data) ? data : Convert.ToBase64String(this.EncryptStringToBytesAes(data, this.GetCryptographyKey(), this.GetCryptographyIv()));
}
public string Decrypt(string data) {
return string.IsNullOrEmpty(data) ? data : this.DecryptStringFromBytesAes(Convert.FromBase64String(data), this.GetCryptographyKey(), this.GetCryptographyIv());
}
private byte[] GetCryptographyKey() {
return Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(SecretKey.Replace('e', '!'));
}
private byte[] GetCryptographyIv() {
return Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(SecretIv.Replace('r', '!'));
}
private byte[] EncryptStringToBytesAes(string plainText, byte[] key, byte[] iv) {
MemoryStream encrypt;
RijndaelManaged aesAlg = null;
try {
aesAlg = new RijndaelManaged {
Key = key,
IV = iv
};
var encryptor = aesAlg.CreateEncryptor(aesAlg.Key, aesAlg.IV);
encrypt = new MemoryStream();
using (var csEncrypt = new CryptoStream(encrypt, encryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Write)) {
using (var swEncrypt = new StreamWriter(csEncrypt)) {
swEncrypt.Write(plainText);
}
}
} finally {
aesAlg?.Clear();
}
return encrypt.ToArray();
}
private string DecryptStringFromBytesAes(byte[] cipherText, byte[] key, byte[] iv) {
RijndaelManaged aesAlg = null;
string plaintext;
try {
aesAlg = new RijndaelManaged {
Key = key,
IV = iv
};
var decryptor = aesAlg.CreateDecryptor(aesAlg.Key, aesAlg.IV);
using (var msDecrypt = new MemoryStream(cipherText)) {
using (var csDecrypt = new CryptoStream(msDecrypt, decryptor, CryptoStreamMode.Read)) {
using (var srDecrypt = new StreamReader(csDecrypt))
plaintext = srDecrypt.ReadToEnd();
}
}
} finally {
aesAlg?.Clear();
}
return plaintext;
}
}
Usage
var textToEncrypt = "hello World";
var encrypted = new Encryption().Encrypt(textToEncrypt); //-> zBmW+FUxOvdbpOGm9Ss/vQ==
var decrypted = new Encryption().Decrypt(encrypted); //-> hello World
Note:
- Rijndael is the predecessor of the standard symmetric cryptographic algorithm AES.
# Encrypt and decrypt data using AES (in C#)
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
namespace Aes_Example
{
class AesExample
{
public static void Main()
{
try
{
string original = "Here is some data to encrypt!";
// Create a new instance of the Aes class.
// This generates a new key and initialization vector (IV).
using (Aes myAes = Aes.Create())
{
// Encrypt the string to an array of bytes.
byte[] encrypted = EncryptStringToBytes_Aes(original,
myAes.Key,
myAes.IV);
// Decrypt the bytes to a string.
string roundtrip = DecryptStringFromBytes_Aes(encrypted,
myAes.Key,
myAes.IV);
//Display the original data and the decrypted data.
Console.WriteLine("Original: {0}", original);
Console.WriteLine("Round Trip: {0}", roundtrip);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e.Message);
}
}
static byte[] EncryptStringToBytes_Aes(string plainText, byte[] Key, byte[] IV)
{
// Check arguments.
if (plainText == null || plainText.Length <= 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("plainText");
if (Key == null || Key.Length <= 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("Key");
if (IV == null || IV.Length <= 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("IV");
byte[] encrypted;
// Create an Aes object with the specified key and IV.
using (Aes aesAlg = Aes.Create())
{
aesAlg.Key = Key;
aesAlg.IV = IV;
// Create a decrytor to perform the stream transform.
ICryptoTransform encryptor = aesAlg.CreateEncryptor(aesAlg.Key,
aesAlg.IV);
// Create the streams used for encryption.
using (MemoryStream msEncrypt = new MemoryStream())
{
using (CryptoStream csEncrypt = new CryptoStream(msEncrypt,
encryptor,
CryptoStreamMode.Write))
{
using (StreamWriter swEncrypt = new StreamWriter(csEncrypt))
{
//Write all data to the stream.
swEncrypt.Write(plainText);
}
encrypted = msEncrypt.ToArray();
}
}
}
// Return the encrypted bytes from the memory stream.
return encrypted;
}
static string DecryptStringFromBytes_Aes(byte[] cipherText, byte[] Key, byte[] IV)
{
// Check arguments.
if (cipherText == null || cipherText.Length <= 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("cipherText");
if (Key == null || Key.Length <= 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("Key");
if (IV == null || IV.Length <= 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("IV");
// Declare the string used to hold the decrypted text.
string plaintext = null;
// Create an Aes object with the specified key and IV.
using (Aes aesAlg = Aes.Create())
{
aesAlg.Key = Key;
aesAlg.IV = IV;
// Create a decrytor to perform the stream transform.
ICryptoTransform decryptor = aesAlg.CreateDecryptor(aesAlg.Key,
aesAlg.IV);
// Create the streams used for decryption.
using (MemoryStream msDecrypt = new MemoryStream(cipherText))
{
using (CryptoStream csDecrypt = new CryptoStream(msDecrypt,
decryptor,
CryptoStreamMode.Read))
{
using (StreamReader srDecrypt = new StreamReader(csDecrypt))
{
// Read the decrypted bytes from the decrypting stream
// and place them in a string.
plaintext = srDecrypt.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
}
return plaintext;
}
}
}
This example is from MSDN (opens new window).
It is a console demo application, showing how to encrypt a string by using the standard AES encryption, and how to decrypt it afterwards.
(AES = Advanced Encryption Standard (opens new window), a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001 which is still the de-facto standard for symmetric encryption)
Notes:
Usage: see Main() method.
# Create a Key from a Password / Random SALT (in C#)
using System;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Text;
public class PasswordDerivedBytesExample
{
public static void Main(String[] args)
{
// Get a password from the user.
Console.WriteLine("Enter a password to produce a key:");
byte[] pwd = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(Console.ReadLine());
byte[] salt = CreateRandomSalt(7);
// Create a TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider object.
TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider tdes = new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider();
try
{
Console.WriteLine("Creating a key with PasswordDeriveBytes...");
// Create a PasswordDeriveBytes object and then create
// a TripleDES key from the password and salt.
PasswordDeriveBytes pdb = new PasswordDeriveBytes(pwd, salt);
// Create the key and set it to the Key property
// of the TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider object.
tdes.Key = pdb.CryptDeriveKey("TripleDES", "SHA1", 192, tdes.IV);
Console.WriteLine("Operation complete.");
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
finally
{
// Clear the buffers
ClearBytes(pwd);
ClearBytes(salt);
// Clear the key.
tdes.Clear();
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
#region Helper methods
/// <summary>
/// Generates a random salt value of the specified length.
/// </summary>
public static byte[] CreateRandomSalt(int length)
{
// Create a buffer
byte[] randBytes;
if (length >= 1)
{
randBytes = new byte[length];
}
else
{
randBytes = new byte[1];
}
// Create a new RNGCryptoServiceProvider.
RNGCryptoServiceProvider rand = new RNGCryptoServiceProvider();
// Fill the buffer with random bytes.
rand.GetBytes(randBytes);
// return the bytes.
return randBytes;
}
/// <summary>
/// Clear the bytes in a buffer so they can't later be read from memory.
/// </summary>
public static void ClearBytes(byte[] buffer)
{
// Check arguments.
if (buffer == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("buffer");
}
// Set each byte in the buffer to 0.
for (int x = 0; x < buffer.Length; x++)
{
buffer[x] = 0;
}
}
#endregion
}
This example is taken from MSDN. (opens new window)
It is a console demo, and it shows how to create a secure key based on a user-defined password, and how to create a random SALT based on the cryptographic random generator.
Notes:
**NOTE:** As a workaround, you can create a random AES key for encryption of the data to be protected with AES and store the AES key in a TripleDES-Container which uses the key generated by `CryptDeriveKey`. But that limits the security to TripleDES, does not take advantage of the larger keysizes of AES and creates a dependency to TripleDES.
Usage: See Main() method.
# Encryption and Decryption using Cryptography (AES)
Decryption Code
public static string Decrypt(string cipherText)
{
if (cipherText == null)
return null;
byte[] cipherBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(cipherText);
using (Aes encryptor = Aes.Create())
{
Rfc2898DeriveBytes pdb = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(CryptKey, new byte[] { 0x49, 0x76, 0x61, 0x6e, 0x20, 0x4d, 0x65, 0x64, 0x76, 0x65, 0x64, 0x65, 0x76 });
encryptor.Key = pdb.GetBytes(32);
encryptor.IV = pdb.GetBytes(16);
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
using (CryptoStream cs = new CryptoStream(ms, encryptor.CreateDecryptor(), CryptoStreamMode.Write))
{
cs.Write(cipherBytes, 0, cipherBytes.Length);
cs.Close();
}
cipherText = Encoding.Unicode.GetString(ms.ToArray());
}
}
return cipherText;
}
Encryption Code
public static string Encrypt(string cipherText)
{
if (cipherText == null)
return null;
byte[] clearBytes = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(cipherText);
using (Aes encryptor = Aes.Create())
{
Rfc2898DeriveBytes pdb = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(CryptKey, new byte[] { 0x49, 0x76, 0x61, 0x6e, 0x20, 0x4d, 0x65, 0x64, 0x76, 0x65, 0x64, 0x65, 0x76 });
encryptor.Key = pdb.GetBytes(32);
encryptor.IV = pdb.GetBytes(16);
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
using (CryptoStream cs = new CryptoStream(ms, encryptor.CreateEncryptor(), CryptoStreamMode.Write))
{
cs.Write(clearBytes, 0, clearBytes.Length);
cs.Close();
}
cipherText = Convert.ToBase64String(ms.ToArray());
}
}
return cipherText;
}
Usage
var textToEncrypt = "TestEncrypt";
var encrypted = Encrypt(textToEncrypt);
var decrypted = Decrypt(encrypted);
# Remarks
.NET Framework provides implementation of many cryptographic algorithms. They include basically symmetric algorithms, asymmetric algorithms and hashes.