Encrypting and Decrypting Data

To encrypt and decrypt data, you must use a key with an encryption algorithm that performs a transformation on the data. The .NET Framework provides several classes that enable you to perform cryptographic transformations on data using several standard algorithms. This section describes how to create and manage keys and how to encrypt and decrypt data using public-key and secret-key algorithms.

In This Section

• Generating Keys for Encryption and Decryption
  Describes symmetric and asymmetric algorithms used for encryption and decryption.

• How to: Store Asymmetric Keys in a Key Container
  Describes how to store private keys in a key container.

• Encrypting Data
  Explains how to do symmetric and asymmetric encryption.

• Decrypting Data
  Explains how to do symmetric and asymmetric decryption.

See Also

Other Resources

Cryptographic Tasks

Cryptographic Services

Change History

Date	History	Reason
January 2010	Added table with links to the topics in this section.	Customer feedback.