Advanced Encryption Standard

After DES was broken by an exhaustive search attack in 1997, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requested proposals for a new ciphering algorithm. There were 15 different ciphers submitted and NIST eventually chose one to become the "Advanced Encryption Standard" (AES) that would replace the old "Data Encryption Standard" (DES).

The Rijndael cipher won the contest and was dubbed "AES" in the year 2000.

AES vs. DES

• AES uses 128, 192, or 256 bit keys. DES uses 56 bit keys
• AES block size is 128 bits, DES block size is 64 bits
• DES is insecure by modern standards, AES is still considered secure
• AES uses a subs-perm network, DES uses Feistel