Rijndael Algorithm for Encryption and Decryption

I have implemented a sample code to implement encryption and decryption of string using Rijndael Algorithm

 protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string clearData = "Hello, World!";
        string key = "s@1tValue";
        byte[] b = Encrypt(clearData, key);
        Response.Write("Encrypted String: " + Convert.ToBase64String(b));        
        Response.Write("--------------------------------------------------------------");
        Response.Write("Decrypted String: " + Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Decrypt(b, key)));
    }

    public static byte[] Encrypt(string iclearData, string key)
    {
        try
        {
            byte[] clearData = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(iclearData);
            var salt = new byte[] { 0x49, 0x76, 0x61, 0x6e, 0x20, 0x4d, 0x65, 0x64, 0x76, 0x65, 0x64, 0x65, 0x76 };
            var pdb = new PasswordDeriveBytes(key, salt);
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
            var alg = Rijndael.Create();
            alg.Key = pdb.GetBytes(32);
            alg.IV = pdb.GetBytes(16);
            CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream(ms,alg.CreateEncryptor(),CryptoStreamMode.Write);
            cryptoStream.Write(clearData, 0, clearData.Length);
             cryptoStream.FlushFinalBlock(); 
            byte[] cipherTextBytes = ms.ToArray();
            ms.Close();
            cryptoStream.Close();
            return cipherTextBytes;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            throw new Exception("Encryption Failed");
        }
    }

    public static byte[] Decrypt(byte[] cipherData, string key)
    {
        try
        {
            var salt = new byte[] { 0x49, 0x76, 0x61, 0x6e, 0x20, 0x4d, 0x65, 0x64, 0x76, 0x65, 0x64, 0x65, 0x76 };
            var pdb = new PasswordDeriveBytes(key, salt);           
            var alg = Rijndael.Create();
            alg.Key = pdb.GetBytes(32);
            alg.IV = pdb.GetBytes(16);
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(cipherData);
            CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream(ms,alg.CreateDecryptor(),CryptoStreamMode.Read);
            byte[] plainTextBytes = new byte[cipherData.Length];
            int decryptedByteCount = cryptoStream.Read(plainTextBytes,  0, plainTextBytes.Length);
            ms.Close();
            cryptoStream.Close();
            return plainTextBytes;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            throw new Exception("Decryption Failed");
        }
    }