AES, or Advanced Encryption Standard, is a widely used symmetric encryption algorithm that plays a crucial role in securing digital communication and data storage. It was established as the standard encryption method by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001, replacing the older Data Encryption Standard (DES).
AES operates by converting plaintext data into ciphertext using a secret encryption key. The algorithm is designed to be highly secure and resistant to various cryptographic attacks, such as brute force attacks, differential and linear cryptanalysis, and others. It achieves this security through a combination of substitution, permutation, and mixing operations performed across multiple rounds.
AES supports different key lengths, including 128-bit, 192-bit, and 256-bit keys, which determine the level of security and encryption strength. The larger the key size, the more resistant AES is to brute force attacks.
The widespread adoption of AES has made it a fundamental building block for securing sensitive information in various applications, such as online banking, e-commerce, secure communication (like HTTPS), and data storage. Its efficiency and robustness have contributed to its continued dominance in the field of cryptography.
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) can be used in various modes to suit different encryption and security requirements.
Here are the AES modes that Zyxx offers to its clients :
- Electronic Codebook (ECB): This is the simplest mode, where each block of plaintext is encrypted independently using the same encryption key. While simple, ECB mode can have security vulnerabilities when encrypting repetitive data, as identical plaintext blocks will produce identical ciphertext blocks.
- Cipher Block Chaining (CBC): In this mode, each plaintext block is XORed with the previous ciphertext block before encryption. Initialization Vector (IV) is used to start the chaining process. CBC provides better security than ECB by introducing dependency between blocks, making it harder to predict the ciphertext.
- Galois/Counter Mode (GCM): GCM is a mode of operation that combines AES encryption with Galois field multiplication to provide authenticated encryption and data integrity. It’s commonly used for securing network communication, including TLS.
- CCM Mode (Counter with CBC-MAC): CCM combines counter mode for encryption and CBC-MAC for authentication. It’s commonly used in wireless communication protocols like IEEE 802.15.4.