Question

Whenever I use the SHA256.Create() method it always returns a null value. Here is the method I have for encrypting a password …

private string EncryptPassword(string password)
{
    SHA256 sha = SHA256.Create(password);
    return BitConverter.ToString(sha.Hash);
}

The debugger shows that the variable sha is null. I have even tried putting it in its own method in a controller but I still get a System.NullReferenceException

public String Index()
{
    return BitConverter.ToString(SHA256.Create("Hello World").Hash);
}

I am completely lost. Is there something that I am obviously doing wrong?

Answer 1

Yes, Create() isn’t meant for the message, it specifies the SHA256 implementation.

I suspect you want to use the implementation class SHA256Managed instead.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.cryptography.sha256managed.aspx

Example:

using (var sha256 = new SHA256Managed())
{
    byte[] raw = Encoding.Default.GetBytes(password);
    return sha256.ComputeHash(raw);
}