Table 20.15 lists the crypto API key functions. CryptGenRandom is very useful for coming up with keys to be used with symmetric-key algorithms. Remember that you need to save your generated keys somewhere; saving is not done for you automatically. The proper way to save a key is to create an exportable version of it using CryptExportKey, then use CryptImportKey when you need to read it back from disk.
Table 20.15: Key Functions
| Function | Description |
| CryptDestroyKey | Destroys a given key. |
| CryptExportKey | Converts a key from the CSP into a key blob that can be safely shared or saved to disk. |
| CryptGenRandom | Generates some random data. (Used for salt bits.) |
| CryptGetKeyParam | Retrieves the parameters for a given key. |
| CryptGetUserKey | Retrieves a handle to an exchange key or a signature key. |
| CryptImportKey | Converts a key blob into a key usable by a CSP. |
| CryptSetKeyParam | Sets the parameters for a key. |