Cryptography/Data Encryption Standard
Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a Symmetric Encryption algorithm developed by IBM in the late 1970’s that utilizes a preshared cryptographic key to encrypt/decrypt a given data chunk of 64 bits. It works by first diving the given data into a 64-bit block and using the given key to encrypt each individual block. These data blocks can only be decrypted by another host if they know the preset key by simply repeating the system against itself using the key.
DES has now been formally replaced with Advance Encryption Standard (AES), as the new Standard by the National Security Agency (NSA).
DES is a type of encryption algorithm known as a block cipher, meaning that data is encrypted using blocks of data instead of bit by bit from a stream.
External Links
editFederal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publication 46-3