Encrypting Data
Symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption are performed using different processes. Symmetric encryption is performed on streams and is therefore useful to encrypt large amounts of data. Asymmetric encryption is performed on a small number of bytes and is therefore useful only for small amounts of data.
Symmetric Encryption
The managed symmetric cryptography classes are used with a special stream class called a CryptoStream that encrypts data read into the stream. The CryptoStream class is initialized with a managed stream class, a class implements the ICryptoTransform interface (created from a class that implements a cryptographic algorithm), and a CryptoStreamMode enumeration that describes the type of access permitted to the CryptoStream. The CryptoStream class can be initialized using any class that derives from the Stream class, including FileStream, MemoryStream, and NetworkStream. Using these classes, you can perform symmetric encryption on a variety of stream objects.
The following example illustrates how to create a new instance of the RijndaelManaged class, which implements the Rijndael encryption algorithm, and use it to perform encryption on a CryptoStream class. In this example, the CryptoStream is initialized with a stream object called MyStream that can be any type of managed stream. The CreateEncryptor method from the RijndaelManaged class is passed the key and IV that are used for encryption. In this case, the default key and IV generated from RMCrypto are used. Finally, the CryptoStreamMode.Write is passed, specifying write access to the stream.
Dim RMCrypto As New RijndaelManaged()
Dim CryptStream As New CryptoStream(MyStream, RMCrypto.CreateEncryptor(RMCrypto.Key, RMCrypto.IV), CryptoStreamMode.Write)
[C#]
RijndaelManaged RMCrypto = new RijndaelManaged();
CryptoStream CryptStream = new CryptoStream(MyStream, RMCrypto.CreateEncryptor(), CryptoStreamMode.Write);
After this code is executed, any data written to the CryptoStream object is encrypted using the Rijndael algorithm.
The following example shows the entire process of creating a stream, encrypting the stream, writing to the stream, and closing the stream. This example creates a network stream that is encrypted using the CryptoStream class and the RijndaelManaged class. A message is written to the encrypted stream with the StreamWriter class.
Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Security.Cryptography
Imports System.Net.Sockets
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Try
'Create a TCP connection to a listening TCP process.
'Use "localhost" to specify the current computer or
'replace "localhost" with the IP address of the
'listening process.
Dim TCP As New TcpClient("localhost", 11000)
'Create a network stream from the TCP connection.
Dim NetStream As NetworkStream = TCP.GetStream()
'Create a new instance of the RijndaelManaged class
'and encrypt the stream.
Dim RMCrypto As New RijndaelManaged()
Dim Key As Byte() = {0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16}
Dim IV As Byte() = {0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16}
'Create a CryptoStream, pass it the NetworkStream, and encrypt
'it with the Rijndael class.
Dim CryptStream As New CryptoStream(NetStream, RMCrypto.CreateEncryptor(Key, IV), CryptoStreamMode.Write)
'Create a StreamWriter for easy writing to the
'network stream.
Dim SWriter As New StreamWriter(CryptStream)
'Write to the stream.
SWriter.WriteLine("Hello World!")
'Inform the user that the message was written
'to the stream.
Console.WriteLine("The message was sent.")
'Close all the connections.
SWriter.Close()
CryptStream.Close()
NetStream.Close()
TCP.Close()
Catch
'Inform the user that an exception was raised.
Console.WriteLine("The connection failed.")
End Try
End Sub
End Module
[C#]
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Net.Sockets;
public class main
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
//Create a TCP connection to a listening TCP process.
//Use "localhost" to specify the current computer or
//replace "localhost" with the IP address of the
//listening process.
TcpClient TCP = new TcpClient("localhost",11000);
//Create a network stream from the TCP connection.
NetworkStream NetStream = TCP.GetStream();
//Create a new instance of the RijndaelManaged class
// and encrypt the stream.
RijndaelManaged RMCrypto = new RijndaelManaged();
byte[] Key = {0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16};
byte[] IV = {0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16};
//Create a CryptoStream, pass it the NetworkStream, and encrypt
//it with the Rijndael class.
CryptoStream CryptStream = new CryptoStream(NetStream,
RMCrypto.CreateEncryptor(Key, IV),
CryptoStreamMode.Write);
//Create a StreamWriter for easy writing to the
//network stream.
StreamWriter SWriter = new StreamWriter(CryptStream);
//Write to the stream.
SWriter.WriteLine("Hello World!");
//Inform the user that the message was written
//to the stream.
Console.WriteLine("The message was sent.");
//Close all the connections.
SWriter.Close();
CryptStream.Close();
NetStream.Close();
TCP.Close();
}
catch
{
//Inform the user that an exception was raised.
Console.WriteLine("The connection failed.");
}
}
}
For the previous example to execute successfully, there must be a process listening on the IP address and port number specified in the TCPCLient class. If a listening process exists, the code will connect to the listening process, encrypt the stream using the Rijndael symmetric algorithm, and write "Hello World!" to the stream. If the code is successful, it displays the following text to the console:
The message was sent.
However, if no listening process is found or an exception is raised, the code displays the following text to the console:
The connection failed.
Asymmetric Encryption
Asymmetric algorithms are usually used to encrypt small amounts of data such as the encryption of a symmetric key and IV. Typically, an individual performing asymmetric encryption uses the public key generated by another party. The RSACryptoServiceProvider class is provided by the .NET Framework for this purpose.
The following example uses public key information to encrypt a symmetric key and IV. Two byte arrays are initialized that represent the public key of a third party. An RSAParameters object is initialized to these values. Next, the RSAParameters object (along with the public key it represents) is imported into an RSACryptoServiceProvider using the RSACryptoServiceProvider.ImportParameters method. Finally, the private key and IV created by a RijndaelManaged class are encrypted. This example requires systems to have 128-bit encryption installed.
Imports System
Imports System.Security.Cryptography
Module Module1
Sub Main()
'Initialize the byte arrays to the public key information.
Dim PublicKey As Byte() = {214, 46, 220, 83, 160, 73, 40, 39, 201, 155, 19,202, 3, 11, 191, 178, 56, 74, 90, 36, 248, 103, 18, 144, 170, 163, 145, 87, 54, 61, 34, 220, 222, 207, 137, 149, 173, 14, 92, 120, 206, 222, 158, 28, 40, 24, 30, 16, 175, 108, 128, 35, 230, 118, 40, 121, 113, 125, 216, 130, 11, 24, 90, 48, 194, 240, 105, 44, 76, 34, 57, 249, 228, 125, 80, 38, 9, 136, 29, 117, 207, 139, 168, 181, 85, 137, 126, 10, 126, 242, 120, 247, 121, 8, 100, 12, 201, 171, 38, 226, 193, 180, 190, 117, 177, 87, 143, 242, 213, 11, 44, 180, 113, 93, 106, 99, 179, 68, 175, 211, 164, 116, 64, 148, 226, 254, 172, 147}
Dim Exponent As Byte() = {1, 0, 1}
'Create values to store encrypted symmetric keys.
Dim EncryptedSymmetricKey() As Byte
Dim EncryptedSymmetricIV() As Byte
'Create a new instance of the RSACryptoServiceProvider class.
Dim RSA As New RSACryptoServiceProvider()
'Create a new instance of the RSAParameters structure.
Dim RSAKeyInfo As New RSAParameters()
'Set RSAKeyInfo to the public key values.
RSAKeyInfo.Modulus = PublicKey
RSAKeyInfo.Exponent = Exponent
'Import key parameters into RSA.
RSA.ImportParameters(RSAKeyInfo)
'Create a new instance of the RijndaelManaged class.
Dim RM As New RijndaelManaged()
'Encrypt the symmetric key and IV.
EncryptedSymmetricKey = RSA.Encrypt(RM.Key, False)
EncryptedSymmetricIV = RSA.Encrypt(RM.IV, False)
End Sub
End Module
[C#]
using System;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
class Class1
{
static void Main()
{
//Initialize the byte arrays to the public key information.
byte[] PublicKey = {214,46,220,83,160,73,40,39,201,155,19,202,3,11,191,178,56,
74,90,36,248,103,18,144,170,163,145,87,54,61,34,220,222,
207,137,149,173,14,92,120,206,222,158,28,40,24,30,16,175,
108,128,35,230,118,40,121,113,125,216,130,11,24,90,48,194,
240,105,44,76,34,57,249,228,125,80,38,9,136,29,117,207,139,
168,181,85,137,126,10,126,242,120,247,121,8,100,12,201,171,
38,226,193,180,190,117,177,87,143,242,213,11,44,180,113,93,
106,99,179,68,175,211,164,116,64,148,226,254,172,147};
byte[] Exponent = {1,0,1};
//Create values to store encrypted symmetric keys.
byte[] EncryptedSymmetricKey;
byte[] EncryptedSymmetricIV;
//Create a new instance of the RSACryptoServiceProvider class.
RSACryptoServiceProvider RSA = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();
//Create a new instance of the RSAParameters structure.
RSAParameters RSAKeyInfo = new RSAParameters();
//Set RSAKeyInfo to the public key values.
RSAKeyInfo.Modulus = PublicKey;
RSAKeyInfo.Exponent = Exponent;
//Import key parameters into RSA.
RSA.ImportParameters(RSAKeyInfo);
//Create a new instance of the RijndaelManaged class.
RijndaelManaged RM = new RijndaelManaged();
//Encrypt the symmetric key and IV.
EncryptedSymmetricKey = RSA.Encrypt(RM.Key, false);
EncryptedSymmetricIV = RSA.Encrypt(RM.IV, false);
}
}
See Also
Generating Keys for Encryption and Decryption | Decrypting Data | Cryptographic Tasks | Cryptographic Services