Advanced Encryption Standard
block cipher standard / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In cryptography, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), is a symmetric-key, block cipher[1] algorithm that was selected by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001. It was selected for encrypting data. It is commonly used around the world.[2] The Advanced Encryption Standard has replaced the Data Encryption Standard (DES).[3]
As of 2008, AES is one of the most popular algorithms used in symmetric key cryptography. It is available to programmers and the general public with various software packages.