using System.Security.Cryptography;
 
byte[] salt = RandomNumberGenerator.GetBytes(32);
int iterations = 600_000; // High iteration count for brute-force resistance
 
// Derive a 256-bit key from a password
byte[] derivedKey = Rfc2898DeriveBytes.Pbkdf2(
    password: "UserSecret123!",
    salt: salt,
    iterations: iterations,
    hashAlgorithm: HashAlgorithmName.SHA512,
    outputLength: 32);