The AES encryption algorithm is used by the US government for classified and unclassified data. It was approved as a federal government standard in 2002 and is now the only approved publicly accessible encryption system for classified documents. It consists of three separate keys of 128, 192 and 256 bits, making it virtually impossible to crack through brute force attacks.
The AES encryption algorithm is used by US government departments to encrypt confidential data. It is now used for both classified and unclassified data. The algorithm has been publicly released and it is likely that it will eventually be widely used in the commercial sector.
Originally the AES encryption algorithm was designed to be used only for secret but unclassified data. Classified data is data where the law restricts who can access the data. The AES encryption algorithm was approved as a federal government standard in 2002, then received approval for use in classified documents in 2003. As of 2010, it was still the only approved publicly accessible encryption system for classified documents.
The AES encryption algorithm has replaced the data encryption standard in US government use. The Data Encryption Standard, first adopted in 1976, used a 56-bit key, which meant it could be reduced to 56 characters, each a 1 or a 0. This meant the odds of guessing the number correctly they were one in 72 quadrillion, which can also be expressed as one in 72 billion million. In other words, it would take an average of one in 36 quadrillion attempts to correctly guess the entire key and be able to decrypt unauthorized encrypted messages.
At the time, this seemed so difficult that it was virtually impossible. As computing power increased, it became more feasible. In 1999, an experiment showed that a computer could crack the algorithm in less than a day by simply trying every possible combination of 1s and 0s. This is known as a brute force attack. Officials tried to counter this by developing “Triple DES,” where there are three separate keys for each data set, but there were still calls for a new system.
The AES algorithm is much more complicated. It consists of three separate keys, respectively of 128, 192 and 256 bits. The odds of cracking the algorithm are, to say the least, immense. Except for people who are already familiar with the quattuorvigintillion unit, it’s probably safe to say that the odds are inconceivable!
That’s not to say there will never be a computer powerful enough to brute-force AES decryption, but right now that would be virtually impossible. Even if a computer could be made powerful enough, any existing manufacturing techniques would make it impossible to actually build such a machine to a manageable size. Indeed, anyone attempting to build such a machine would likely attract the interest of the US government long before they were able to crack the algorithm.
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