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AES Announced as Federal Standard

Posted by michael on from the government-gets-better-locks dept.

chekhov writes: "Today NIST has finally announced AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) as a Federal Standard after 4 years of development. See the press release. AES is the replacement of DES and is expected to be used in financial systems and secure networks for up to 20 years. More information on the AES homepage."

6 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Rijndael by wildsurf · · Score: 3, Funny

    In 20 years when the encryption is broken, will we then find out what "Rijndael" really means?

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    Weeks of coding saves hours of planning.
  2. Terrorists? by Exmet+Paff+Daxx · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who will be required to implement and use the AES?

    The AES is now an approved encryption algorithm that can be used by U.S. government organizations to protect sensitive, unclassified information.

    ...

    Commercial and other non-federal organizations are invited-but not required-to adopt and implement the AES and NIST's other cryptographic standards.


    If I read this correctly, terrorist cells qualify as "other organizations". I couldn't find any mention of export limitations, civilian key strength limitations, or bans on use by criminal organizations.

    What have we done?

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    If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
  3. Why bother.. by Cave+Dweller · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...developing it, when you can ROT-13 anything and slap anyone who decodes with a copy of the DMCA? :P

  4. Re:340 undecillion by sconest · · Score: 2, Funny

    Zillion is just a club in Antwerp, Belgium. And I don't think you can put 10^15 people in there.

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    Guvf vf abg n EBG zrffntr
  5. In other news, AG Ashcroft jailed all 857 employes by sphealey · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news, Attorney General John Ashcroft "detained" all 857 employees of the NIST as "suspected terrorists". They are being held incommunicado at an undisclosed location, awaiting execution by a miliary tribunal. "We can't just have people releasing encryption algorithms whenever they feel like it, even if they are employees of the US Government," said Ashcroft. When it was pointed out to him that bin Laden avoids technical means of communication in favor of face-to-ear whispers among trusted family members, Ashcroft replied: "That's OK. Better to execute 857 innocent geeks than allow one terrorist to slip through."

    sPh

  6. How To Write A Press Release by Captain+Chad · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the press release:
    • The new standard contains a sophisticated mathematical formula known as an algorithm.
    Did anyone else find this to be hilarious? I can see a manager saying something like, "We need to write this at a 6th-grade level of comprehension. Be sure to define the word 'algorithm'."
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