The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES competition) was a competition organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the late 1990s to find a successor for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). The goal was to develop a new encryption algorithm that would meet the demands of a new century, particularly with the advent of the internet and the need for stronger encryption to secure electronic data.
Background
- Reasons for a New Standard: DES was developed in the 1970s and was becoming vulnerable to brute-force attacks due to its relatively short 56-bit key length. The need for a new encryption standard was driven by the increase in computing power which made breaking DES feasible.
- Announcement: NIST announced the competition in 1997, inviting proposals from around the world for a new encryption algorithm.
Competition Process
- Submission: The competition received 15 initial submissions from cryptographers worldwide. These submissions were evaluated based on security, computational efficiency, memory requirements, and flexibility.
- Evaluation Phases:
- First Round: After initial review, 5 algorithms were selected for the first round of evaluation: MARS, RC6, Rijndael, Serpent, and Twofish.
- Second Round: After further analysis, only Rijndael was selected for the final round.
- Selection: In October 2000, NIST selected Rijndael, designed by Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen, as the winner. Rijndael was chosen for its combination of security, performance, efficiency, and implementation flexibility.
Adoption and Impact
- Standardization: Rijndael was adopted as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in November 2001 through FIPS PUB 197.
- Use: AES has become the de facto standard for securing sensitive data in various applications including government communications, financial transactions, and secure web browsing through protocols like HTTPS.
- Legacy: The competition set a precedent for how cryptographic standards could be developed through open and transparent processes, fostering trust in the resulting algorithm.
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