How to use the Data Protection API in ASP.Net Core

The Data protection stack in ASP.Net Core provides an easy-to-use cryptographic API for protecting data, including the necessary mechanisms for encryption and decryption. This article looks at how we can work with this API when building our ASP.Net Core applications.

Create an ASP.Net Core MVC project in Visual Studio

First off, let’s create an ASP.Net Core project in Visual Studio. Assuming Visual Studio 2017 or Visual Studio 2019 is installed in your system, follow the steps outlined below to create a new ASP.Net Core project in Visual Studio.

1. Launch the Visual Studio IDE.
2. Click on “Create new project.”
3. In the “Create new project” window, select “ASP.Net Core Web Application” from the list of templates displayed.
4. Click Next.
5. In the “Configure your new project” window, specify the name and location for the new project.
6. Click Create.
7. In the “Create New ASP.Net Core Web Application” window shown next, select .Net Core as the runtime and ASP.Net Core 2.2 (or later) from the drop-down list at the top.
8. Select “Web Application (Model-View-Controller)” as the project template to create a new ASP.Net Core MVC application.
9. Ensure that the check boxes “Enable Docker Support” and “Configure for HTTPS” are unchecked as we won’t be using those features here.
10. Ensure that Authentication is set as “No Authentication” as we won’t be using authentication either.
11. Click Create.

Following these steps should create a new ASP.Net Core project in Visual Studio. We’ll use this project in the subsequent sections of this article.