What Is the Cryptography Application Block?

Developing applications that meet strict security standards is not for the faint of heart. Without really knowing what is happening not only in the code that is written in an application but also in the code that is called, an application could easily be opened up for attack. The .NET Cryptography API can help; however, even when the .NET Cryptography API is properly used, there is still a fair amount of work that needs to be completed to get the job done.

This is where the Cryptography Application Block comes into the picture. The Cryptography Application Block makes it easier for you to add functionality to your applications for encrypting data, decrypting data, and creating and comparing hashes. At its core, the methods exposed by the Cryptography Application Block use many of the assets that exist in the .NET Cryptography API, while also eliminating some of the complexities of using it. The Cryptography Application Block does not, however, provide any functionality that facilitates the use of digital certificates or asymmetric encryption. Like many of the other application blocks in Enterprise Library, the Cryptography Application Block achieves its simplicity by exposing a service façade, often requiring you to write only a single line of code.