Introduction to Encryption Techniques

CryptoAPI can be used by applications to easily encrypt and decrypt messages and files. This section discusses the various options available for encrypting data. For a hands-on description of how to encrypt data using CryptoAPI, see "Encrypting Files and Messages" in this section.

The encryption algorithms available to an application depend on the cryptographic service provider (CSP) being used. However, most CSPs share most of the attributes discussed here. All data encryption using CryptoAPI is performed with a symmetric algorithm, regardless of which CSP is installed.