.NET 2.0 Security

Summary

The first goal of this chapter was to introduce you to the various security components supplied by the .NET 2.0 base class libraries. As you have seen, there are numerous security-centric name spaces, most of which have a direct impact on ASP.NET web applications. Recall that the framework provides numerous types to work with standard encryption atoms (hash codes, asymmetric/symmetric encryption) and traditional role-based security.

The remainder of this chapter focused exclusively upon the ASP.NET security framework. We began by reviewing the core Forms authentication model, which has been present since the inception of the .NET platform. Once we established the basics, we examined how the Membership type and various server controls can be used to simplify the authentication process. Next, we revisited the notion of role-based security within the context of the Roles API.

Last but not least, this chapter introduced you to a new Web-based interface, which you can use to edit web.config files: the ASP.NET Web Application Administration Tool. While a single chapter cannot cover all possible aspects of the .NET security model, we believe this puts you are in a very good position for further exploration.