Using AES encryption in C#

Question

I can't seem to find a nice clean example of using AES 128 bit encryption.

Does anyone have some sample code?

Answer 1

If you just want to use the built-in crypto provider RijndaelManaged, check out the following help article (it also has a simple code sample):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.cryptography.rijndaelmanaged.aspx

And just in case you need the sample in a hurry, here it is in all its plagiarized glory:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography;

namespace RijndaelManaged_Example
{
    class RijndaelExample
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            try
            {

                string original = "Here is some data to encrypt!";

                // Create a new instance of the RijndaelManaged 
                // class.  This generates a new key and initialization  
                // vector (IV). 
                using (RijndaelManaged myRijndael = new RijndaelManaged())
                {

                    myRijndael.GenerateKey();
                    myRijndael.GenerateIV();
                    // Encrypt the string to an array of bytes. 
                    byte[] encrypted = EncryptStringToBytes(original, myRijndael.Key, myRijndael.IV);

                    // Decrypt the bytes to a string. 
                    string roundtrip = DecryptStringFromBytes(encrypted, myRijndael.Key, myRijndael.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(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 RijndaelManaged object 
            // with the specified key and IV. 
            using (RijndaelManaged rijAlg = new RijndaelManaged())
            {
                rijAlg.Key = Key;
                rijAlg.IV = IV;

                // Create a decryptor to perform the stream transform.
                ICryptoTransform encryptor = rijAlg.CreateEncryptor(rijAlg.Key, rijAlg.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(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 RijndaelManaged object 
            // with the specified key and IV. 
            using (RijndaelManaged rijAlg = new RijndaelManaged())
            {
                rijAlg.Key = Key;
                rijAlg.IV = IV;

                // Create a decrytor to perform the stream transform.
                ICryptoTransform decryptor = rijAlg.CreateDecryptor(rijAlg.Key, rijAlg.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;

        }
    }
}