Windows apps
Collapse the table of content
Expand the table of content
Information
The topic you requested is included in another documentation set. For convenience, it's displayed below. Choose Switch to see the topic in its original location.

ProtectedMemory Class

Provides methods for protecting and unprotecting memory. This class cannot be inherited.

Namespace: System.Security.Cryptography
Assembly: System.Security (in system.security.dll)

'Declaration
Public NotInheritable Class ProtectedMemory
'Usage
Dim instance As ProtectedMemory

public final class ProtectedMemory
public final class ProtectedMemory
Not applicable.

This class provides access to the Data Protection API (DPAPI) available in Microsoft Windows XP and later operating systems. This is a service that is provided by the operating system and does not require additional libraries. It provides encryption for sensitive data in memory.

The class consists of two wrappers for the unmanaged DPAPI, Protect and Unprotect. These two methods can be used to encrypt and decrypt data in memory.

TopicLocation
How to: Use Data Protection.NET Framework: Security
How to: Use Data Protection.NET Framework: Security

The following code example shows how to use data protection.

Imports System
Imports System.Security.Cryptography



Public Class MemoryProtectionSample
    ' Create aditional entropy for use with the Protect method.
    Private Shared s_aditionalEntropy As Byte() = {9, 8, 7, 6, 5}


    Public Shared Sub Main()
        ' Create the original data to be encrypted (The data length should be a multiple of 16).
        Dim secret As Byte() = {1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4}

        ' Encrypt the data in memory. The result is stored in the same same array as the original data.
        ProtectedMemory.Protect(secret, MemoryProtectionScope.SameLogon)

        ' Decrypt the data in memory and store in the original array.
        ProtectedMemory.Unprotect(secret, MemoryProtectionScope.SameLogon)

    End Sub
End Class

import System.*;
import System.Security.Cryptography.*;

public class MemoryProtectionSample
{
    // Create aditional entropy for use with the Protect method.
    private static ubyte sAditionalEntropy[] =  { 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 };

    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        // Create the original data to be encrypted (The data length should 
        // be a multiple of 16).
        ubyte secret[] =  { 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 };
        // Encrypt the data in memory. The result is stored in the same same 
        // array as the original data.
        ProtectedMemory.Protect(secret, MemoryProtectionScope.SameLogon);
        // Decrypt the data in memory and store in the original array.
        ProtectedMemory.Unprotect(secret, MemoryProtectionScope.SameLogon);
    } //main
} //MemoryProtectionSample 

System.Object
  System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedMemory

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 is supported on Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0

Community Additions

Show:
© 2017 Microsoft