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Walkthrough: Encrypting and Decrypting Strings in Visual Basic

This walkthrough shows you how to use the TripleDES class to encrypt and decrypt strings using the Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) algorithm. The first step is to create a simple wrapper class that encapsulates the 3DES algorithm and stores the encrypted data as a base-64 encoded string. Then, that wrapper is used to securely store private user data in a publicly accessible text file.

You can use encryption to protect user secrets (for example, passwords) and to make credentials unreadable by unauthorized users. This can protect an authorized user's identity from being stolen, which protects the user's assets and provides non-repudiation. Encryption can also protect a user's data from being accessed by unauthorized users.

For more information, see Cryptographic Services.

Important

The Rijndael (now referred to as Advanced Encryption Standard [AES]) and Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) algorithms provide greater security than DES because they are more computationally intensive. For more information, see DES and Rijndael.

To create the encryption wrapper

  1. Create the Simple3Des class to encapsulate the encryption and decryption methods.

    Public NotInheritable Class Simple3Des
End Class

  2. Add an import of the cryptography namespace to the start of the file that contains the Simple3Des class.

    Imports System.Security.Cryptography

  3. In the Simple3Des class, add private fields to store the 3DES cryptographic service provider, the specified key, and the format version, salt size, and iteration count.

    Private TripleDes As TripleDES = TripleDES.Create()

Private Const FormatVersion As Byte = 1
Private Const SaltSize As Integer = 16
Private Const Iterations As Integer = 600000
Private ReadOnly Key As String

  4. Add a private method that creates a byte array from the specified key and a salt.

    Private Function DeriveKey(ByVal salt() As Byte) As Byte()
    ' Derive a key from the specified key and the salt.
    Using kdf As New Rfc2898DeriveBytes(
        Key, salt, Iterations, HashAlgorithmName.SHA256)

        Return kdf.GetBytes(TripleDes.KeySize \ 8)
    End Using
End Function

  5. Add a constructor that stores the specified key.

    The key parameter controls the EncryptData and DecryptData methods.

    Sub New(ByVal key As String)
    ' Store the key. The encryption key and IV are created per message.
    Me.Key = key
End Sub

  6. Add a public method that encrypts a string.

    Public Function EncryptData( 
    ByVal plaintext As String) As String

    ' Create a new salt and initialization vector for this message.
    Dim salt(SaltSize - 1) As Byte
    Using rng As RandomNumberGenerator = RandomNumberGenerator.Create()
        rng.GetBytes(salt)
    End Using

    TripleDes.Key = DeriveKey(salt)
    TripleDes.GenerateIV()

    ' Convert the plaintext string to a byte array.
    Dim plaintextBytes() As Byte = 
        System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(plaintext)

    ' Create the stream.
    Dim ms As New System.IO.MemoryStream
    ' Write the format version, salt, and initialization vector in front of
    ' the cipher text. The version identifies the salt length and iteration count.
    ms.WriteByte(FormatVersion)
    ms.Write(salt, 0, salt.Length)
    ms.Write(TripleDes.IV, 0, TripleDes.IV.Length)

    ' Create the encoder to write to the stream.
    Dim encStream As New CryptoStream(ms, 
        TripleDes.CreateEncryptor(), 
        System.Security.Cryptography.CryptoStreamMode.Write)

    ' Use the crypto stream to write the byte array to the stream.
    encStream.Write(plaintextBytes, 0, plaintextBytes.Length)
    encStream.FlushFinalBlock()

    ' Convert the encrypted stream to a printable string.
    Return Convert.ToBase64String(ms.ToArray)
End Function

  7. Add a public method that decrypts a string.

    Public Function DecryptData( 
    ByVal encryptedtext As String) As String

    ' Convert the encrypted text string to a byte array.
    Dim encryptedBytes() As Byte = Convert.FromBase64String(encryptedtext)

    ' Read the header that precedes the cipher text. Only one format
    ' version exists, so reject anything else.
    Dim ivSize As Integer = TripleDes.BlockSize \ 8
    Dim headerSize As Integer = 1 + SaltSize + ivSize
    If encryptedBytes.Length < headerSize OrElse
        encryptedBytes(0) <> FormatVersion Then

        Throw New CryptographicException(
            "The encrypted data is not in the expected format.")
    End If

    Dim salt(SaltSize - 1) As Byte
    Dim iv(ivSize - 1) As Byte
    Array.Copy(encryptedBytes, 1, salt, 0, SaltSize)
    Array.Copy(encryptedBytes, 1 + SaltSize, iv, 0, ivSize)

    TripleDes.Key = DeriveKey(salt)
    TripleDes.IV = iv

    ' Create the stream.
    Dim ms As New System.IO.MemoryStream
    ' Create the decoder to write to the stream.
    Dim decStream As New CryptoStream(ms, 
        TripleDes.CreateDecryptor(), 
        System.Security.Cryptography.CryptoStreamMode.Write)

    ' Use the crypto stream to write the byte array to the stream.
    decStream.Write(encryptedBytes, headerSize, 
        encryptedBytes.Length - headerSize)
    decStream.FlushFinalBlock()

    ' Convert the plaintext stream to a string.
    Return System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetString(ms.ToArray)
End Function

    The wrapper class can now be used to protect user assets. In this example, it is used to securely store private user data in a publicly accessible text file.

To test the encryption wrapper

  1. In a separate class, add a method that uses the wrapper's EncryptData method to encrypt a string and write it to the user's My Documents folder.

    Sub TestEncoding()
    Dim plainText As String = InputBox("Enter the plain text:")
    Dim password As String = InputBox("Enter the password:")

    Dim wrapper As New Simple3Des(password)
    Dim cipherText As String = wrapper.EncryptData(plainText)

    MsgBox("The cipher text is: " & cipherText)
    My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText( 
        My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyDocuments & 
        "\cipherText.txt", cipherText, False)
End Sub

  2. Add a method that reads the encrypted string from the user's My Documents folder and decrypts the string with the wrapper's DecryptData method.

    Sub TestDecoding()
    Dim cipherText As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText( 
        My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyDocuments & 
            "\cipherText.txt")
    Dim password As String = InputBox("Enter the password:")
    Dim wrapper As New Simple3Des(password)

    ' DecryptData throws if the wrong password is used.
    Try
        Dim plainText As String = wrapper.DecryptData(cipherText)
        MsgBox("The plain text is: " & plainText)
    Catch ex As System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException
        MsgBox("The data could not be decrypted with the password.")
    End Try
End Sub

  3. Add user interface code to call the TestEncoding and TestDecoding methods.

  4. Run the application.

    When you test the application, notice that it will not decrypt the data if you provide the wrong password.

See also

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