title: Getting the current ASP.NET machine key
body: <p>I find myself wanting to get the ASP.NET machine key for the current application. This is, of course, easy if a machine key is specified in the configuration file, but if it's set to auto generate then there doesn't seem to be a public method anywhere to get it.</p>
  
  <p>Basically I want at it so I can write an encrypted/MACed cookie for myself, just like the ASP.NET Forms Authentication provider does.</p>
  
  <p>Does anyone have any pointers or ideas?</p>