Cryptography and Security

In this chapter, we saw how to use the .NET cryptography features to perform common cryptographic operations, such as encryption, decryption, and hash code validation. The .NET Framework Class Library contains implementations of many encryption and has algorithms, some of which are implemented using underlying Windows features and others of which are written using .NET itself. We have also seen how to use the Data Protection API to encrypt data using keys that are maintained by Windows on behalf of users, which alleviates the user needing to remember additional information beyond their Windows credentials.