Implementing WS-SecureConversation in Microsoft IssueVision

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;

namespace IssueVision
{
	// The SerializationHelper class contains Serialize / Deserialize methods for 
	// storing data on the client machine securely.  Data objects are first serialized
	// to a binary stream, then encrypted, then written to disk (typically in the
	// UserApplicationDataPath location).
	public class SerializationHelper 
	{
		public static void Serialize(object data, string filePath) 
		{
			try 
			{
				// 1. Open the file
				StreamWriter fs = new StreamWriter(filePath, false);
	            
				try 
				{
					MemoryStream streamMemory = new MemoryStream();
					BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
					
					// 2. Serialize the dataset object using the binary formatter
					formatter.Serialize(streamMemory, data);
					
					// 3. Encrypt the binary data
					string binaryData = Convert.ToBase64String(streamMemory.GetBuffer());
					string cipherData = DataProtection.Encrypt(binaryData, DataProtection.Store.User);
					
					// 4. Write the data to a file
					fs.Write(cipherData);
				} 
				finally 
				{
					// 5. Close the file
					fs.Flush();
					fs.Close();
				}
			} 
			catch
			{
				// Eat exception if this fails.
			}
		}

		public static object Deserialize( string  filePath) 
		{
			object data = new object();

			try 
			{
				// 1. Open the file
				StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(filePath);
		        
				try 
				{
					MemoryStream streamMemory;
					BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
					
					// 2. Read the binary data, and convert it to a string
					string cipherData = sr.ReadToEnd();
					
					// 3. Decrypt the binary data
					byte[] binaryData = Convert.FromBase64String(DataProtection.Decrypt(cipherData, DataProtection.Store.User));
					
					// 4. Rehydrate the dataset
					streamMemory = new MemoryStream(binaryData);
					data = formatter.Deserialize(streamMemory);
				} 
				catch 
				{ 
					// data could not be deserialized
					data = null;
				} 
				finally 
				{
					// 5. Close the reader
					sr.Close();
				}
			} 
			catch 
			{
				// file doesn't exist
				data = null;
			}

			return data;
		}
	}
}