Encrypting and decrypting strings

To start using RijndaelManaged encryption, you need to import the .NET System.Security Assembly into your script. Much like importing a module to provide additional cmdlets, using .NET assemblies provide an extension to a variety of classes you wouldn't normally have access to in PowerShell. Importing the assembly isn't persistent. This means you will need to import the assembly each time you want to use it in a PowerShell session, or each time you want to run the script.

To load the .NET assembly, you can use the Add-Type cmdlet with the -AssemblyName parameter with the System.Security argument. Since the cmdlet doesn't actually output anything to the screen, you may choose to print to the screen after successful importing of the assembly.

To import the System.Security Assembly with display information, you can do the following:

Write-host "Loading the .NET System.Security Assembly For Encryption"
Add-Type -AssemblyNameSystem.Security -ErrorActionSilentlyContinue...