diff --git a/src/FileCache/FileCacheManager.cs b/src/FileCache/FileCacheManager.cs
index e662b61..5361cc4 100644
--- a/src/FileCache/FileCacheManager.cs
+++ b/src/FileCache/FileCacheManager.cs
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ public abstract class FileCacheManager
     {
         // Magic version for new sysfiles: 3.3.0 packed into a long.
         protected const ulong CACHE_VERSION = (  3 << 16
-                                               + 3 <<  8
-                                               + 0 <<  0);
+                                                 + 3 <<  8
+                                                 + 0 <<  0);
 
         public string CacheDir { get; set; }
         public string CacheSubFolder { get; set; }
@@ -127,8 +127,21 @@ public virtual FileCachePayload ReadFile(FileCache.PayloadMode mode, string key,
             }
             try
             {
-                // TODO: In part of the merge it looked like the policy was force serialized with LocalCacheBinder(), is this intended?
-                payload.Policy = Deserialize(policyPath) as SerializableCacheItemPolicy;
+                if (File.Exists(policyPath))
+                {
+                    using (FileStream stream = GetStream(policyPath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.Read))
+                    {
+                        using (BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(stream))
+                        {
+                            // TODO: In part of the merge it looked like the policy was force serialized with LocalCacheBinder(), is this intended?
+                            payload.Policy = SerializableCacheItemPolicy.Deserialize(reader, stream.Length);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    payload.Policy = new SerializableCacheItemPolicy();
+                }
             }
             catch
             {
@@ -268,13 +281,13 @@ public virtual long WriteFile(FileCache.PayloadMode mode, string key, FileCacheP
             //write the cache policy
             using (FileStream stream = GetStream(cachedPolicy, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.None))
             {
-                BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
-                formatter.Serialize(stream, data.Policy);
-
-                // adjust cache size
-                cacheSizeDelta += new FileInfo(cachedPolicy).Length;
+                using (BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(stream))
+                {
+                    data.Policy.Serialize(writer);
 
-                stream.Close();
+                    // adjust cache size
+                    cacheSizeDelta += new FileInfo(cachedPolicy).Length;
+                }
             }
 
             return cacheSizeDelta;
@@ -555,7 +568,7 @@ public override Type BindToType(string assemblyName, string typeName)
 
                 // Get the type using the typeName and assemblyName
                 typeToDeserialize = Type.GetType(String.Format("{0}, {1}",
-                    typeName, assemblyName));
+                                                               typeName, assemblyName));
 
                 return typeToDeserialize;
             }
diff --git a/src/FileCache/SerializableCacheItemPolicy.cs b/src/FileCache/SerializableCacheItemPolicy.cs
index 1eebbeb..a93f864 100644
--- a/src/FileCache/SerializableCacheItemPolicy.cs
+++ b/src/FileCache/SerializableCacheItemPolicy.cs
@@ -7,11 +7,19 @@ FileCache is distributed under the Apache License 2.0.
 Consult "LICENSE.txt" included in this package for the Apache License 2.0.
 */
 
+using System.IO;
+
+
 namespace System.Runtime.Caching
 {
     [Serializable]
     public class SerializableCacheItemPolicy
     {
+        // Magic version for new policies: 3.3.0 packed into a long.
+        protected const ulong CACHE_VERSION = (  3 << 16
+                                                 + 3 <<  8
+                                                 + 0 <<  0);
+
         public DateTimeOffset AbsoluteExpiration { get; set; }
 
         private TimeSpan _slidingExpiration;
@@ -24,7 +32,7 @@ public TimeSpan SlidingExpiration
             set
             {
                 _slidingExpiration = value;
-                if (_slidingExpiration > new TimeSpan())
+                if (_slidingExpiration > TimeSpan.Zero)
                 {
                     AbsoluteExpiration = DateTimeOffset.Now.Add(_slidingExpiration);
                 }
@@ -45,5 +53,69 @@ public SerializableCacheItemPolicy()
         /// The cache key that this particular policy refers to
         /// </summary>
         public string Key { get; set; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Serialize this policy to the supplied BinaryWriter.
+        ///
+        /// Older policies use the "[Serializable]" attribute and BinaryFormatter, which is a security risk:
+        /// https://docs.microsoft.com/nl-nl/dotnet/standard/serialization/binaryformatter-security-guide#preferred-alternatives
+        ///
+        /// The newer caches have a 'magic' header we'll look for and serialize their fields manually.
+        /// </summary>
+        public void Serialize(BinaryWriter writer)
+        {
+            writer.Write(CACHE_VERSION);
+
+            writer.Write(AbsoluteExpiration.Date.ToBinary());
+            writer.Write(AbsoluteExpiration.Offset.TotalMilliseconds);
+
+            writer.Write(SlidingExpiration.TotalMilliseconds);
+
+            writer.Write(Key);
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Deserialize a policy from the supplied BinaryReader.
+        ///
+        /// Older policies use the "[Serializable]" attribute and BinaryFormatter, which is a security risk:
+        /// https://docs.microsoft.com/nl-nl/dotnet/standard/serialization/binaryformatter-security-guide#preferred-alternatives
+        ///
+        /// The newer caches have a 'magic' header we'll look for and deserialize their fields manually.
+        /// If the 'magic' header isn't found, this returns an empty policy.
+        /// </summary>
+        public static SerializableCacheItemPolicy Deserialize(BinaryReader reader, long streamLength)
+        {
+            // Can't even check for the magic version number; return empty policy.
+            if (streamLength < sizeof(ulong))
+                return new SerializableCacheItemPolicy();
+
+            try
+            {
+                var version = reader.ReadUInt64();
+                if (version != CACHE_VERSION)
+                    // Just return an empty policy if we read an invalid one.
+                    // This is likely the older "BinaryFormatter"-serialized policy.
+                    return new SerializableCacheItemPolicy();
+
+                return new SerializableCacheItemPolicy {
+                    AbsoluteExpiration = new DateTimeOffset(DateTime.FromBinary(reader.ReadInt64()),
+                                                            TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(reader.ReadDouble())),
+                    SlidingExpiration = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(reader.ReadDouble()),
+                    Key = reader.ReadString(),
+                };
+            }
+            catch (Exception error)
+            {
+                if (error is EndOfStreamException
+                    || error is IOException
+                    || error is ObjectDisposedException)
+                {
+                    // Just return an empty policy if we failed to read.
+                    return new SerializableCacheItemPolicy();
+                }
+                // Didn't expect this error type; rethrow it.
+                throw;
+            }
+        }
     }
 }