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In cryptography, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known as Rijndael, is a block cipher adopted as an encryption standard by the U.S. government. It is expected to be used worldwide and analyzed extensively, as was the case with its predecessor, the Data Encryption Standard (DES). AES was announced by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as U.S. FIPS PUB 197 (FIPS 197) in November 26, 2001 after a 5-year standardization process (see Advanced Encryption Standard process for more details). It became effective as a standard May 26, 2002. As of 2006, AES is one of the most popular algorithms used in symmetric key cryptography.
In cryptography, Blowfish is a keyed, symmetric block cipher, designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier and included in a large number of cipher suites and encryption products.While no effective cryptanalysis of Blowfish has been found to date, more attention is now given to block ciphers with a larger block size, such as AES or Twofish.Schneier designed Blowfish as a general-purpose algorithm, intended as a replacement for the aging DES and free of the problems associated with other algorithms. At the time, many other designs were proprietary, encumbered by patents or kept as government secrets. Schneier has stated that, "Blowfish is unpatented, and will remain so in all countries. The algorithm is hereby placed in the public domain, and can be freely used by anyone."
In cryptography, CAST-256 (or CAST6) is a block cipher published in June 1998. It was submitted as a candidate for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES); however, it wasnot among the five AES finalists. It is an extension of an earlier cipher, CAST-128; both were designed according to the "CAST" design methodology invented by Carlisle Adams and StaffordTavares. Howard Heys and Michael Wiener also contributed to the design.CAST-256 uses the same elements as CAST-128, including S-boxes, but is adapted for a block size of 128 bits - twice thesize of its 64-bit predecessor. (A similar construction occurred in the evolution of RC5 into RC6). Acceptable key sizes are 128, 160, 192, 224 or 256 bits. CAST-256 is composed of 48 rounds,sometimes described as 12 "quad-rounds", arranged in a generalised Feistel network.In RFC 2612, the authors state that, "The CAST-256 cipher described in this document is available worldwide on a royalty-free and licence-free basis for commercial and non-commercial uses."
In cryptography, encryption is the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge, sometimes referred to as scrambling. Encryption has been used to protect communications for centuries, but only organizations and individuals with an extraordinary need for secrecy had made use of it. In the mid-1970s, strong encryption emerged from the sole preserve of secretive government agencies into the public domain, and is now used in protecting widely-used systems, such as Internet e-commerce, mobile telephone networks and bank automatic teller machines. Encryption can be used to ensure secrecy, but other techniques are still needed to make communications secure, particularly to verify the integrity and authenticity of a message; for example, a message authentication code (MAC) or digital signatures. Another consideration is protection against traffic analysis.