Which of the following is a block cipher that was selected by the National Bureau of Standards as an official Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for the United States in 1976?

Question

Options

• AAdvanced Encryption Standard
• BData Encryption Standard
• CFederal Data Encryption Standard
• DInternational Data Encryption Algorithm

• A
  13% (4)
• B
  81% (26)
• C
  3% (1)
• D
  3% (1)

Explanation

The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a block cipher (a form of shared secret encryption) that was selected by the National Bureau of Standards as an official Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for the United States in 1976 and which has subsequently enjoyed widespread use internationally. It is based on a symmetric-key algorithm that uses a 56-bit key. The algorithm was initially controversial with classified design elements, a relatively short key length, and suspicions about a National Security Agency (NSA) backdoor. DES consequently came under intense academic scrutiny, which motivated the modern understanding of block ciphers and their Answer: D is incorrect. International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) is a block cipher. It operates on 64-bit blocks using a 128-bit key. This algorithm was intended as a replacement for the Data Encryption Standard. IDEA was used in Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) v2.0, and was incorporated after the original cipher used in v1.0, BassOmatic, was found to be insecure. It is an optional algorithm in OpenPGP. The cipher is patented in a number of countries but is freely available for non-commercial use. IDEA is a minor revision of an earlier cipher, PES (Proposed Encryption Standard). It was originally called IPES (Improved PES). Answer: C is incorrect. There is no such standard as Federal Data Encryption Standard. Answer: A is incorrect. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is an encryption standard that comprises three block ciphers, AES-128, AES-192, and AES-256, adopted from a larger collection originally published as Rijndael. Each AES cipher has a 128-bit block size, with key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits, respectively. The AES ciphers have been analyzed extensively and are now used worldwide, as was the case with its predecessor, the Data Encryption Standard AES is one of the most popular algorithms used in symmetric key cryptography. It is available in many different encryption packages. AES is the first publicly accessible and open cipher approved by the NSA for top secret information.

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