The Need for Encryption
Encryption is an ancient art. Julius Caesar protected his written messages with a simple code; he just shifted his letters 3 spaces to the left. (In his honor, this substitution method is still called the Caesar Cipher.) Later, the 9th century Arab scholar Al-Kindi produced a pioneering text entitled, A Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages.
Today, with the staggering amount of sensitive information that we digitally store and transmit, encryption plays a vital role in protecting private information. The elementary Caesar Cipher may have served its purpose in a relatively illiterate age, but the intricate security matrix in which we live requires more advanced tools.
The Advanced Encryption Standard
Enter the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Towards the close of the 20th century, the National Institute for Standards and Testing (NIST)acted on the need for a new encryption algorithim capable of protecting top secret information. NIST is part of the Department of Commerce. It is a non-regulatory agency that, according to their website, promotes "U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve quality of life."
Early in the development process, NIST decided to draw on the world's finest cryptographic minds and asked them to submit candidates for the new algorithim. In 1997 they published a formal call which read in part:
It is intended that the AES will specify an unclassified, publicly disclosed encryption algorithm available royalty-free worldwide that is capable of protecting sensitive government information well into the next century.
The purpose of this notice is to solicit candidate algorithms from the public, academic/research communities, manufacturers, voluntary standards organizations, and Federal, state, and local government organizations. Following the close of the submission period, NIST intends to make all submissions publicly available for review and comment.
The entire process spanned five years. Fifteen competing algorithims with colorful names such as Rijndael (the eventual winner), Twofish and Serpent (the runners up) were scrutinized over a three year period.
AES is now the industry standard for encryption. The NSA employs it for protecting secret information and industry uses the algorithim for creating commercially available encryption products.
File encryption and email encryption are two common applications for AES. File encryption protects the information on your hard disk or thumb drive. With encryption, your data will be secure even if your computer is hacked or your USB drive stolen. Email encryption protects your messages as they journey through the cloud and keeps them from being read by unintended recipients.
Using Encryption
You can take advantage of programs such as TrueCrypt to encrypt information on your thumb drive or computer. AES is recognized as the industry standard for encryption. Thanks in large part to extensive input from the cryptographic community and the open review process, it can be trusted and is available to anyone who wishes to protect sensitive information.
