SYSK 14: The easiest way to sign your assembly

Did you know that you no longer need to leave VS and use SN.exe to create a strong key to sign an assembly?  Simply, go to Project Properties, select the Signing Pane, and check Sign the Assembly check box.  From the Choose a strong name key file dropdown box, select <New…> ; the Create Strong Name Key dialog appears, where you can specify the strong key file name.

Strong name key files come in two flavors plain and password-protected. If you uncheck the Protect my key file with a password checkbox, Visual Studio 2005 will generate a file with the name specified and with the snk (Strong Name Key) extension. However, keeping the key in such a raw format carries great liability: since the strong name uniquely identifies an assembly vendor, if the private key is compromised, any malicious party could produce components as if they came from that vendor. To reduce the risk, I strongly recommend always choosing to protect the key using a password. Visual Studio 2005 insists that the password specified has 6 characters or more. If you check the Protect my key file with a password checkbox, Visual Studio 2005 will generate a file with the name specified and with the pfx (Personal Information Exchange) extension. The pfx file is more secure because whenever another user tries to use the file, that user will be prompted for the password. The other advantage of a pfx file is that you can add it to a certificate container (see the sidebar Protecting Your Keys).

Source:   http://www.code-magazine.com/article.aspx?quickid=0507041&page=3