Encoding for encryption

• You may exchange alg and the associated aux functions to match your needs.
• If you have a byte array instead of a C# string, you may leave away the Unicode conversions to byte array.
• If you do not need a printable representation, leave the base64 parts away.

/// <summary>
/// Encryption utilities for string encryption.
/// This is using know-how obtained from
/// http://www.codeproject.com/KB/security/DotNetCrypto.aspx
/// (no license restrictions apply).
/// </summary>
public class StringEncryption
{
    /// <summary>Salt: some static byte array, e.g. your name</summary>
    private static readonly byte[] salt = new byte[] { ... };

    /// <summary>Encrypt a string and return it as hex encocded.</summary>
    /// <param name="plainText">plain text to encrypt</param>
    /// <param name="password">password</param>
    /// <returns>encrypted text as base64 string (without new lines)</returns>
    public static string Encrypt(string plainText, params byte[] password)
    {
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            using (var alg = Rijndael.Create())
            using (var pwd = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(password, salt, 1000))
            using (var cs = new CryptoStream(ms, GetEncryptor(alg, pwd),
                                                 CryptoStreamMode.Write))
            {
                byte[] plainBytes = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(plainText);
                cs.Write(plainBytes, 0, plainBytes.Length);
            }
            byte[] encodedBytes = ms.ToArray();
            string base64string = Convert.ToBase64String(encodedBytes,
                                            base64FormattingOptions.None);
            return base64string;
        }
    }
    /// <summary>
    /// Decrypt a base64 encocded and encrypted string and return it as plain text.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="encryptedText">base64 encoded and encrypted text</param>
    /// <param name="password">password</param>
    /// <returns>decrypted text</returns>
    public static string Decrypt(string encryptedText, params byte[] password)
    {
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            using (var alg = Rijndael.Create())
            using (var pwd = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(password, salt, 1000))
            using (var cs = new CryptoStream(ms, GetDecryptor(alg, pwd),
                                                 CryptoStreamMode.Write))
            {
                byte[] decodedBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(encryptedText);
                cs.Write(decodedBytes, 0, decodedBytes.Length);
            }
            byte[] decryptedBytes = ms.ToArray();
            string plainText = Encoding.Unicode.GetString(decryptedBytes);
            return plainText;
        }
    }

    private static ICryptoTransform GetEncryptor(SymmetricAlgorithm algorithm,
                                                 DeriveBytes pwd)
    {
        return algorithm.CreateEncryptor(pwd.GetBytes(32), pwd.GetBytes(16));
    }
    private static ICryptoTransform GetDecryptor(SymmetricAlgorithm algorithm,
                                                 DeriveBytes pwd)
    {
        return algorithm.CreateDecryptor(pwd.GetBytes(32), pwd.GetBytes(16));
    }
}