Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES. The algorithm described by AES is a symmetric-key algorithm, meaning the same key is used for both encrypting and decrypting the data. In the United States, AES was announced by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as U.S. FIPS PUB 197 (FIPS 197) on November 26, 2001 after a five-year standardization process in which fifteen competing designs were presented and evaluated before it was selecte...

In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm (from Algoritmi, the Latin form of Al-Khwārizmī) is a step-by-step procedure for calculations. More precisely, it is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning. Starting from an initial state and initial input (perhaps empty), the instructions describe a computation that, when executed, will proceed through a finite number of well-defined successive states, eventually producing "output" and term...

In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information (referred to as plaintext) using an algorithm (called a cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information (in cryptography, referred to as ciphertext). The reverse process, i.e. to make the encrypted information readable again is referred to as decryption, (i.e. to make it unencrypted). In many contexts, the word encryption may also implicitly refer to the reverse process, decryption e.g. “software f...