Simple insecure two-way data “obfuscation”?

Question

I\'m looking for very simple obfuscation (like encrypt and decrypt but not necessarily secure) functionality for some data. It\'s not mission critical. I need something to k

Answer 1

I've been using the accepted answer by Mark Brittingham and its has helped me a lot. Recently I had to send encrypted text to a different organization and that's where some issues came up. The OP does not require these options but since this is a popular question I'm posting my modification (Encrypt and Decrypt functions borrowed from here):

1. Different IV for every message - Concatenates IV bytes to the cipher bytes before obtaining the hex. Of course this is a convention that needs to be conveyed to the parties receiving the cipher text.
2. Allows two constructors - one for default RijndaelManaged values, and one where property values can be specified (based on mutual agreement between encrypting and decrypting parties)

Here is the class (test sample at the end):

/// <summary>
/// Based on https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.cryptography.rijndaelmanaged(v=vs.110).aspx
/// Uses UTF8 Encoding
///  http://security.stackexchange.com/a/90850
/// </summary>
public class AnotherAES : IDisposable
{
    private RijndaelManaged rijn;

    /// <summary>
    /// Initialize algo with key, block size, key size, padding mode and cipher mode to be known.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="key">ASCII key to be used for encryption or decryption</param>
    /// <param name="blockSize">block size to use for AES algorithm. 128, 192 or 256 bits</param>
    /// <param name="keySize">key length to use for AES algorithm. 128, 192, or 256 bits</param>
    /// <param name="paddingMode"></param>
    /// <param name="cipherMode"></param>
    public AnotherAES(string key, int blockSize, int keySize, PaddingMode paddingMode, CipherMode cipherMode)
    {
        rijn = new RijndaelManaged();
        rijn.Key = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(key);
        rijn.BlockSize = blockSize;
        rijn.KeySize = keySize;
        rijn.Padding = paddingMode;
        rijn.Mode = cipherMode;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Initialize algo just with key
    /// Defaults for RijndaelManaged class: 
    /// Block Size: 256 bits (32 bytes)
    /// Key Size: 128 bits (16 bytes)
    /// Padding Mode: PKCS7
    /// Cipher Mode: CBC
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="key"></param>
    public AnotherAES(string key)
    {
        rijn = new RijndaelManaged();
        byte[] keyArray = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(key);
        rijn.Key = keyArray;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Based on https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.cryptography.rijndaelmanaged(v=vs.110).aspx
    /// Encrypt a string using RijndaelManaged encryptor.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="plainText">string to be encrypted</param>
    /// <param name="IV">initialization vector to be used by crypto algorithm</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public byte[] Encrypt(string plainText, byte[] IV)
    {
        if (rijn == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("Provider not initialized");

        // Check arguments.
        if (plainText == null || plainText.Length <= 0)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("plainText cannot be null or empty");
        if (IV == null || IV.Length <= 0)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("IV cannot be null or empty");
        byte[] encrypted;

        // Create a decrytor to perform the stream transform.
        using (ICryptoTransform encryptor = rijn.CreateEncryptor(rijn.Key, 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;
    }//end EncryptStringToBytes

    /// <summary>
    /// Based on https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.cryptography.rijndaelmanaged(v=vs.110).aspx
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="cipherText">bytes to be decrypted back to plaintext</param>
    /// <param name="IV">initialization vector used to encrypt the bytes</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public string Decrypt(byte[] cipherText, byte[] IV)
    {
        if (rijn == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("Provider not initialized");

        // Check arguments.
        if (cipherText == null || cipherText.Length <= 0)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("cipherText cannot be null or empty");
        if (IV == null || IV.Length <= 0)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("IV cannot be null or empty");

        // Declare the string used to hold the decrypted text.
        string plaintext = null;

        // Create a decrytor to perform the stream transform.
        using (ICryptoTransform decryptor = rijn.CreateDecryptor(rijn.Key, 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;
    }//end DecryptStringFromBytes

    /// <summary>
    /// Generates a unique encryption vector using RijndaelManaged.GenerateIV() method
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public byte[] GenerateEncryptionVector()
    {
        if (rijn == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("Provider not initialized");

        //Generate a Vector
        rijn.GenerateIV();
        return rijn.IV;
    }//end GenerateEncryptionVector


    /// <summary>
    /// Based on https://stackoverflow.com/a/1344255
    /// Generate a unique string given number of bytes required.
    /// This string can be used as IV. IV byte size should be equal to cipher-block byte size. 
    /// Allows seeing IV in plaintext so it can be passed along a url or some message.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="numBytes"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static string GetUniqueString(int numBytes)
    {
        char[] chars = new char[62];
        chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890".ToCharArray();
        byte[] data = new byte[1];
        using (RNGCryptoServiceProvider crypto = new RNGCryptoServiceProvider())
        {
            data = new byte[numBytes];
            crypto.GetBytes(data);
        }
        StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(numBytes);
        foreach (byte b in data)
        {
            result.Append(chars[b % (chars.Length)]);
        }
        return result.ToString();
    }//end GetUniqueKey()

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts a string to byte array. Useful when converting back hex string which was originally formed from bytes.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="hex"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static byte[] StringToByteArray(String hex)
    {
        int NumberChars = hex.Length;
        byte[] bytes = new byte[NumberChars / 2];
        for (int i = 0; i < NumberChars; i += 2)
            bytes[i / 2] = Convert.ToByte(hex.Substring(i, 2), 16);
        return bytes;
    }//end StringToByteArray

    /// <summary>
    /// Dispose RijndaelManaged object initialized in the constructor
    /// </summary>
    public void Dispose()
    {
        if (rijn != null)
            rijn.Dispose();
    }//end Dispose()
}//end class

and..

Here is the test sample:

class Program
{
    string key;
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Program p = new Program();

        //get 16 byte key (just demo - typically you will have a predetermined key)
        p.key = AnotherAES.GetUniqueString(16);

        string plainText = "Hello World!";

        //encrypt
        string hex = p.Encrypt(plainText);

        //decrypt
        string roundTrip = p.Decrypt(hex);

        Console.WriteLine("Round Trip: {0}", roundTrip);
    }

    string Encrypt(string plainText)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\nSending (encrypt side)...");
        Console.WriteLine("Plain Text: {0}", plainText);
        Console.WriteLine("Key: {0}", key);
        string hex = string.Empty;
        string ivString = AnotherAES.GetUniqueString(16);
        Console.WriteLine("IV: {0}", ivString);
        using (AnotherAES aes = new AnotherAES(key))
        {
            //encrypting side
            byte[] IV = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(ivString);

            //get encrypted bytes (IV bytes prepended to cipher bytes)
            byte[] encryptedBytes = aes.Encrypt(plainText, IV);
            byte[] encryptedBytesWithIV = IV.Concat(encryptedBytes).ToArray();

            //get hex string to send with url
            //this hex has both IV and ciphertext
            hex = BitConverter.ToString(encryptedBytesWithIV).Replace("-", "");
            Console.WriteLine("sending hex: {0}", hex);
        }

        return hex;
    }

    string Decrypt(string hex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\nReceiving (decrypt side)...");
        Console.WriteLine("received hex: {0}", hex);
        string roundTrip = string.Empty;
        Console.WriteLine("Key " + key);
        using (AnotherAES aes = new AnotherAES(key))
        {
            //get bytes from url
            byte[] encryptedBytesWithIV = AnotherAES.StringToByteArray(hex);

            byte[] IV = encryptedBytesWithIV.Take(16).ToArray();

            Console.WriteLine("IV: {0}", System.Text.Encoding.Default.GetString(IV));

            byte[] cipher = encryptedBytesWithIV.Skip(16).ToArray();

            roundTrip = aes.Decrypt(cipher, IV);
        }
        return roundTrip;
    }
}

Answer 2

Other answers here work fine, but AES is a more secure and up-to-date encryption algorithm. This is a class that I obtained a few years ago to perform AES encryption that I have modified over time to be more friendly for web applications (e,g. I've built Encrypt/Decrypt methods that work with URL-friendly string). It also has the methods that work with byte arrays.

NOTE: you should use different values in the Key (32 bytes) and Vector (16 bytes) arrays! You wouldn't want someone to figure out your keys by just assuming that you used this code as-is! All you have to do is change some of the numbers (must be <= 255) in the Key and Vector arrays (I left one invalid value in the Vector array to make sure you do this...). You can use https://www.random.org/bytes/ to generate a new set easily:

• generate Key
• generate Vector

Using it is easy: just instantiate the class and then call (usually) EncryptToString(string StringToEncrypt) and DecryptString(string StringToDecrypt) as methods. It couldn't be any easier (or more secure) once you have this class in place.

---

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


public class SimpleAES
{
    // Change these keys
    private byte[] Key = __Replace_Me__({ 123, 217, 19, 11, 24, 26, 85, 45, 114, 184, 27, 162, 37, 112, 222, 209, 241, 24, 175, 144, 173, 53, 196, 29, 24, 26, 17, 218, 131, 236, 53, 209 });

    // a hardcoded IV should not be used for production AES-CBC code
    // IVs should be unpredictable per ciphertext
    private byte[] Vector = __Replace_Me__({ 146, 64, 191, 111, 23, 3, 113, 119, 231, 121, 2521, 112, 79, 32, 114, 156 });


    private ICryptoTransform EncryptorTransform, DecryptorTransform;
    private System.Text.UTF8Encoding UTFEncoder;

    public SimpleAES()
    {
        //This is our encryption method
        RijndaelManaged rm = new RijndaelManaged();

        //Create an encryptor and a decryptor using our encryption method, key, and vector.
        EncryptorTransform = rm.CreateEncryptor(this.Key, this.Vector);
        DecryptorTransform = rm.CreateDecryptor(this.Key, this.Vector);

        //Used to translate bytes to text and vice versa
        UTFEncoder = new System.Text.UTF8Encoding();
    }

    /// -------------- Two Utility Methods (not used but may be useful) -----------
    /// Generates an encryption key.
    static public byte[] GenerateEncryptionKey()
    {
        //Generate a Key.
        RijndaelManaged rm = new RijndaelManaged();
        rm.GenerateKey();
        return rm.Key;
    }

    /// Generates a unique encryption vector
    static public byte[] GenerateEncryptionVector()
    {
        //Generate a Vector
        RijndaelManaged rm = new RijndaelManaged();
        rm.GenerateIV();
        return rm.IV;
    }


    /// ----------- The commonly used methods ------------------------------    
    /// Encrypt some text and return a string suitable for passing in a URL.
    public string EncryptToString(string TextValue)
    {
        return ByteArrToString(Encrypt(TextValue));
    }

    /// Encrypt some text and return an encrypted byte array.
    public byte[] Encrypt(string TextValue)
    {
        //Translates our text value into a byte array.
        Byte[] bytes = UTFEncoder.GetBytes(TextValue);

        //Used to stream the data in and out of the CryptoStream.
        MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();

        /*
         * We will have to write the unencrypted bytes to the stream,
         * then read the encrypted result back from the stream.
         */
        #region Write the decrypted value to the encryption stream
        CryptoStream cs = new CryptoStream(memoryStream, EncryptorTransform, CryptoStreamMode.Write);
        cs.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
        cs.FlushFinalBlock();
        #endregion

        #region Read encrypted value back out of the stream
        memoryStream.Position = 0;
        byte[] encrypted = new byte[memoryStream.Length];
        memoryStream.Read(encrypted, 0, encrypted.Length);
        #endregion

        //Clean up.
        cs.Close();
        memoryStream.Close();

        return encrypted;
    }

    /// The other side: Decryption methods
    public string DecryptString(string EncryptedString)
    {
        return Decrypt(StrToByteArray(EncryptedString));
    }

    /// Decryption when working with byte arrays.    
    public string Decrypt(byte[] EncryptedValue)
    {
        #region Write the encrypted value to the decryption stream
        MemoryStream encryptedStream = new MemoryStream();
        CryptoStream decryptStream = new CryptoStream(encryptedStream, DecryptorTransform, CryptoStreamMode.Write);
        decryptStream.Write(EncryptedValue, 0, EncryptedValue.Length);
        decryptStream.FlushFinalBlock();
        #endregion

        #region Read the decrypted value from the stream.
        encryptedStream.Position = 0;
        Byte[] decryptedBytes = new Byte[encryptedStream.Length];
        encryptedStream.Read(decryptedBytes, 0, decryptedBytes.Length);
        encryptedStream.Close();
        #endregion
        return UTFEncoder.GetString(decryptedBytes);
    }

    /// Convert a string to a byte array.  NOTE: Normally we'd create a Byte Array from a string using an ASCII encoding (like so).
    //      System.Text.ASCIIEncoding encoding = new System.Text.ASCIIEncoding();
    //      return encoding.GetBytes(str);
    // However, this results in character values that cannot be passed in a URL.  So, instead, I just
    // lay out all of the byte values in a long string of numbers (three per - must pad numbers less than 100).
    public byte[] StrToByteArray(string str)
    {
        if (str.Length == 0)
            throw new Exception("Invalid string value in StrToByteArray");

        byte val;
        byte[] byteArr = new byte[str.Length / 3];
        int i = 0;
        int j = 0;
        do
        {
            val = byte.Parse(str.Substring(i, 3));
            byteArr[j++] = val;
            i += 3;
        }
        while (i < str.Length);
        return byteArr;
    }

    // Same comment as above.  Normally the conversion would use an ASCII encoding in the other direction:
    //      System.Text.ASCIIEncoding enc = new System.Text.ASCIIEncoding();
    //      return enc.GetString(byteArr);    
    public string ByteArrToString(byte[] byteArr)
    {
        byte val;
        string tempStr = "";
        for (int i = 0; i <= byteArr.GetUpperBound(0); i++)
        {
            val = byteArr[i];
            if (val < (byte)10)
                tempStr += "00" + val.ToString();
            else if (val < (byte)100)
                tempStr += "0" + val.ToString();
            else
                tempStr += val.ToString();
        }
        return tempStr;
    }
}

Answer 3

I combined what I found the best from several answers and comments.

• Random initialization vector prepended to crypto text (@jbtule)
• Use TransformFinalBlock() instead of MemoryStream (@RenniePet)
• No pre-filled keys to avoid anyone copy & pasting a disaster
• Proper dispose and using patterns

Code:

/// <summary>
/// Simple encryption/decryption using a random initialization vector
/// and prepending it to the crypto text.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>Based on multiple answers in http://stackoverflow.com/questions/165808/simple-two-way-encryption-for-c-sharp </remarks>
public class SimpleAes : IDisposable
{
    /// <summary>
    ///     Initialization vector length in bytes.
    /// </summary>
    private const int IvBytes = 16;

    /// <summary>
    ///     Must be exactly 16, 24 or 32 bytes long.
    /// </summary>
    private static readonly byte[] Key = Convert.FromBase64String("FILL ME WITH 24 (2 pad chars), 32 OR 44 (1 pad char) RANDOM CHARS"); // Base64 has a blowup of four-thirds (33%)

    private readonly UTF8Encoding _encoder;
    private readonly ICryptoTransform _encryptor;
    private readonly RijndaelManaged _rijndael;

    public SimpleAes()
    {
        _rijndael = new RijndaelManaged {Key = Key};
        _rijndael.GenerateIV();
        _encryptor = _rijndael.CreateEncryptor();
        _encoder = new UTF8Encoding();
    }

    public string Decrypt(string encrypted)
    {
        return _encoder.GetString(Decrypt(Convert.FromBase64String(encrypted)));
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        _rijndael.Dispose();
        _encryptor.Dispose();
    }

    public string Encrypt(string unencrypted)
    {
        return Convert.ToBase64String(Encrypt(_encoder.GetBytes(unencrypted)));
    }

    private byte[] Decrypt(byte[] buffer)
    {
        // IV is prepended to cryptotext
        byte[] iv = buffer.Take(IvBytes).ToArray();
        using (ICryptoTransform decryptor = _rijndael.CreateDecryptor(_rijndael.Key, iv))
        {
            return decryptor.TransformFinalBlock(buffer, IvBytes, buffer.Length - IvBytes);
        }
    }

    private byte[] Encrypt(byte[] buffer)
    {
        // Prepend cryptotext with IV
        byte [] inputBuffer = _encryptor.TransformFinalBlock(buffer, 0, buffer.Length); 
        return _rijndael.IV.Concat(inputBuffer).ToArray();
    }
}

Update 2015-07-18: Fixed mistake in private Encrypt() method by comments of @bpsilver and @Evereq. IV was accidentally encrypted, is now prepended in clear text as expected by Decrypt().

Answer 4

Using TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider in System.Security.Cryptography :

public static class CryptoHelper
{
    private const string Key = "MyHashString";
    private static TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider GetCryproProvider()
    {
        var md5 = new MD5CryptoServiceProvider();
        var key = md5.ComputeHash(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Key));
        return new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider() { Key = key, Mode = CipherMode.ECB, Padding = PaddingMode.PKCS7 };
    }

    public static string Encrypt(string plainString)
    {
        var data = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(plainString);
        var tripleDes = GetCryproProvider();
        var transform = tripleDes.CreateEncryptor();
        var resultsByteArray = transform.TransformFinalBlock(data, 0, data.Length);
        return Convert.ToBase64String(resultsByteArray);
    }

    public static string Decrypt(string encryptedString)
    {
        var data = Convert.FromBase64String(encryptedString);
        var tripleDes = GetCryproProvider();
        var transform = tripleDes.CreateDecryptor();
        var resultsByteArray = transform.TransformFinalBlock(data, 0, data.Length);
        return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(resultsByteArray);
    }
}

Answer 5

I think this is the worlds simplest one !

string encrypted = "Text".Aggregate("", (c, a) => c + (char) (a + 2));

Test

 Console.WriteLine(("Hello").Aggregate("", (c, a) => c + (char) (a + 1)));
            //Output is Ifmmp
 Console.WriteLine(("Ifmmp").Aggregate("", (c, a) => c + (char)(a - 1)));
            //Output is Hello