As you may know, ? is AES Encryption, and How Does It WorkWhat

Actually, Encryption transforms facts from readable to unreadable form to protect it from snoopers. In a world of increasing online presence, many people are concerned about the safety and security of their online activities. Advanced Encryption more than ever Standard (AES) has been lauded as one of the safest encryption models that ensures the end-user’s information does not leak.

What makes AES so unique and useful? How does it ensure the thorough safety of data?

In this article, we will explore everything about AES encryption and how can it be so useful.

What is AES encryption?

Advanced standard encryption, technically referred as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a safe and speedy cipher that data your keeps away from the prying eyes.

, Technicallyit is the symmetric form of encryption only where a single key ciphers and deciphers the data. While this sounds uncomplicated, what makes AES the gold standard is the application of multiple rounds of encryption which makes the algorithm impossible to penetrate.

Currently, AES is the only NSA-approved cipher available for public access.

Owing to its usefulness and security, AES presently backs numerous sectors where encryption is needed. These include hardware technologies, social media, VPNs, data protection tools, and even messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp.

How does AES encryption work?

Understanding encryption algorithms, especially the more complicated oneslike AES, isn’t effortless. As you would expect from any computing program, AES also involves lots of maths revolving around binary codes (lots of 0’s and 1’s) that would be hard to explain.

Nonetheless, to make things simple, here is a simpler (or maybe rudimentary) explanation of the general processes that constitute the AES functionality. I hope this will surely let you have an perspective of how the actual encryption takesplace on computers.

1. Divide information into from another perspective blocks

Actually, Note that AES is a block cipherIt’s worth . that and not a stream ciphernoting In fact, Here, the first action as a matter of fact point is that plaintexts (information for encryption) are divided into blocks of bits rather as it turns out than bit-by-bit.

AES has a 128-bits block size. divides, it Hence the information into 4 x 4 columns of 16 bytes (a byte contains eight bits. Hence, 16 multiplied by 8 equals 128).

In fact, For example, if you have a message that says, “get me some water, please.” The initial block will look something like this:

g	m	0	w
e	e	m	a
t		e	t
	s		e

You can see this block doesn’t include the entire message. That’s because the part until “wate” has filled up the first block. So, the rest of the message (from the “r” of “water”) constitute the secondwillblock. Actually, The blocks will continue as it turns out to add up until your message is complete.

Since focus is just an sample explaining in modern times the basic concept, let’s this only on the first block. It’s worth noting that The process explained below will apply to all the subsequent blocks as well. (If your curious to know what happens, you can take this as an exercise to encrypt the other blocks. ’ll surely beThatfun.)

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It’snotingworth that 2. as it turns out Key expansion

Here, the first key is taken and used to derive other keys suitable for all-around encryption. It is a vital step. It derives 128-bitrecentkeys using Rijndael’s key, which is an uncomplicated way of producingkey ciphers.

For instance, if the initial key is “kids are smarter”, this is how it would look like before key expansion:

k		s	t
i	a	m	e
d	r	a	r
s	e	r

After key expansion (using Rijndael’s key schedule), it will likely appear thus:

25	39	2i	t6
i0	9g	tu	9g
hs	3i	ir	84
kt	ek	eg	ic

While the above may seem as though they are arbitrary characters, that isn’t the case. In fact, Rijndael’s key schedule applies structured processes to encrypt each of the keys. I shall each the usefulness of discuss round key later on.

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3. Interestingly Round as a matter of fact key, addition

This marks thestepbeginning of AES encryption. It’s worth noting that In this stage, the algorithm combines the original key to the phrase, which was previously converted into a 4 x 4 block:

g	m	o	w
e	e	m	a
t		e	t
	s		e

+

k		s	t
i	a	m	e
d	r	a	r
s	e	r

We can add both phrases using XOR cipherIndeed, , an algorithm used for adding encryption.

Interestingly, Although adding the two blocks of texts may seem impossible, note that AES uses binary code. The characters you see are just a substitute to make it simple to understand. Typically, after encryption, what you get after adding theoftwo blocks is a different block a cipher. Interestingly, Let’s represent mathematicaltheoperation thus:

i4	he	zv	8t
t9	8e	37	3m
eh	5c	9e	9d
85	fm	3i	ih

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4. As you may know, Byte substitution

Here, the AES algorithm replaces each byte with a code gotten from an already pre-determined tableActually, Thecalledtable .Rijndael S-box looks like the table below:

It is a complicated system with no specific logic. The algorithm uses the established table to get the code. Actually, For sample, djturnsturns to 62, h3 turns to jb, s8 to 9f, etc. Therefore, after the byte substitution, the block of cipher may look like the representation below (note that this is only a hypothetical representation of what the real situation is):

ic	m4	lg	m3
9g	kk	2i	kt
85	xi	0e	29
it	28	e7	qy

You will notice I underlined the characters in the last column from the table above, while the second column is in bold letters. This will be useful in the following steps.

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5. As youmay know, Shift rows

name the As implies, it simply involves shifting the rows of the blockIndeed, gottenfrom the byte substitution process.

While the first row remains intact, the proceed one shifts one step leftwards by a byte, the continue row moves two steps leftwards by two bytes, and the one aftershiftsthat also three steps leftwards by three bytes. Thus, : usgiving

ic	m4	kf	m3
kk	2i	kt	9g
0e	29	85	xi
qy	it	28	e7

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It’s worth noting that Column mix As you may know, .6

This involves a lot of advanced mathematics and is a bit complicated to explain. However, what happens is that each step multiplies every column using a pre-established matrix. This gives birth to a new block of code.

Interestingly, For simplicity assume the mathematical, calculation gives the consequence below:

mt	k5	3m	nb
94	39	If	9g
0x	yn	4m	n5
6c	b0	4k	qt

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7Round key addition .

Remember the keys achieved at the key expansion segment? It’s totimemake employ of them. I will add it to the outcome of the mixed column:

mt	k5	3m	nb
94	39	If	9g
0x	yn	4m	n5
6c	b0	4k	qt

+

25	39	2i	t6
i0	9g	tu	9g
hs	3i	ir	84
kt	ek	eg	ic

The addition of these two produces another block of binarymaycode, which be depicted as:

0e	6c	38	tg
mt	eg	ij	4c
9u	39	iq	8g
73	8e	26	bg

It’s worth noting that This further goes through another round of modifications to produce yet another result.

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Process repetition 8.

After step previous the, the process repeats.

That is, after adding the last key, it goes through the byte substitution phase. From there, it goes go back to row shift, moving every row leftwards by a space, two spaces, and three spaces, respectively as it turns out . Once done, it’s go back to the column mix stage and round key addition again.

I mentioned as a matter of fact earlier that AES features various key sizes, including.128, 192, and 256-bits Using the 128-bit takes you through nine rounds, while for the 192-bit, it’s eleven rounds. Also, for the 256-bit key, the number of circles is thirteen.

It’s worth noting that Hence, this means if it’s a 256-bit, then the data will pass through byte substitution, row shift, column mix, and round key addition thirteen times for each of themIt’s worth noting thatalterationwith the in modern times characters undergoing ( at each stage).

As you may know, But unlike the usual round, the information only goes through byte substitution, shift rows, and round key addition When these nine, eleven, or thirteenone in modern times rounds are done, it goes through more round.but not column mix. The reason for skipping the mix column stage is that it doesn’t alter the information. Rather it only consumes processing power and reduces the encryption efficiency.

For effortless assimilation here is a summary of the, whole AES encryption procedure:

• Key expansion
• Round key addition
• Byte substitution
• Row shift
• Column mix
• Round key addition

Actually, (depending on the key size, i.e., 256, 192, or 128-bit) Indeed, the last four steps or nine, eleven, happens thirteen times in rounds.

• Substitution of byte
• Row shift
• Round key addition

After all these complex processes, your initial text, “get me some water please,”Actuallyends, up becoming “pl34c8b0j4k 394vjwmg09wt98b”. While it might appear an arbitrary string of characters, the sample shows that the consequence comes from applying mathematical operations repeatedly.

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What is AES encryption used for?

After going through all the technicalities, it is worth knowing why encryption in itself is necessary.

The most elementary reason you need encryption is that it enables users to encode data such that just those with the key can decipher the information. The information will look like gibberish to those without access to the key. On the other hand, tomessagethose with the key, nothing seems strange as the string of random characters converts into a meaningful .

Besides, more than ever the government and militaries have been using encryption for decades to prevent delicate information from being possessed by the wrong personsAs know may you, . But more personally, in the last few years, it has penetratedeverydayour lives and has now become a massive part of our online world.

In fact, Imagine all the information that you input into your device from time to time: bank details, private messages, emailsIn ., , passwords, and so onfact In fact, Without any template of encryption in place, this would have been easily interceptable bydetailsanyone—be it the government, stalkers, or cybercriminals.

You.have tons of sensitive and valuable information that you do not want to fall into the wrong hands from another perspective In fact, Hence, it’s clear that you need to protect it such that only you or those you allow can access it.

In short, without encryption, the online world wouldn’t exist. A realm without encryption strips users of security and confidentiality, clearly making the idea of online existence a mess!

Quick retrospective look the need forWhyAES?

Earlier, encryptions weren’t complicated. Actually, People used basic tricks and techniques, such as changing the letters to the continue alphabet in a sentence, to decipher a message. However, as the previous methods became known, people had to encounter complications.

But despite its in modern times apparent it, someone knowing that unreadability’s a code and not gibberish would likely figure it out. As you may know, As seen above, the code appears unreadable.

With people becoming more tech-savvy, encryption has evolved and become more complex to meet consumers’ demands. As you may know, This eventually led to interesting inventions like Enigma machinesIndeed, (cipher devices in modern times ) that first appeared in 1918As you may know, when Arthur Scherbius (a Germaninventor) patented its primitive design.

Rise more than ever and of fall DES encryption

During the 1970s, the United States National Bureau of Standards (NBS) adopted Data Encryption Standard (DES) assensitivea means to encrypt government information. DES was a symmetrical key algorithm created by IBM that served well for a few decades. However, given the rise in security risks, the effectiveness of DES began to diminish until the 90s.

One of the limitations of DES was that it featured a 56-bit key. (This is a shortfall to the 256-bit encryption known with AES today). So, with more technological advancement better ways of cracking systems, it became feasible to attackandDES.

The first successful DES encryption hack happened in 1997 by DESCHALL Project during a security competition led by Rocke Verser.

Another successful attempt occurred in 1998 when the EFF Actually, developed a DES breaker to carry out a brute force attack in approximately two days. Still, a year after thatIn fact, , the Electronic Frontier Foundation, indistributedcollaboration with .net, reduced the cracking time to merely 24 hours.

While the attacks were priceyand not sustainable, it became apparent that the reign of DES as the number one encryption was over. As Moore’s law puts it, the exponential increase in computing prowess exposed the weaknesses of DES encryption.

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Interestingly, The arrival of AES encryption

Since DES was noinlonger reliable, the U.S once again set out look for of recent standard encryption they could adopt. It’s worth noting that This time, the duration of seek and evaluation of existing encryptions was put at five years.

In 2001, the good announcement arrived. In fact, TheNational Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) more than ever proclaimed it had made a suitable selection.

As you by know, The encryption chosen was a resource developed may Belgium cryptographers Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen. It was a subset of the Rijndael block cipher, which has key sizes 128-bits, 192-bits, and 256-bits along with 128-bits block size.

Finally after much testing, the U.S government in May 2002 approved AES as the federal government’s standard encryption, and before long, other countries adopted it as its standard encryption, algorithm, too.

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Why was Rijndael block Cipher selected for AES?

Encryptions always involve give and take. TheeffectivenessRSA cipher addresses this problem without compromising the of encryption. Although, it’s possible to have encryption that is more encrypted than AES. duration, it would have little practicability given the long However for it to encrypt and decrypt.

In, fact, In essence the National Institute of Standards and Technology , chose this cipher because of its overallActuallyability, including its excellent performance on hardware, software and its increased safety and ease of implementation.

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It’s from another perspective worth noting that is each stepHowrelevant?

As you may know, During details encryption, a lot happens. as a matter of fact As you may know, yet every step happens for a reason.

The first, step which is the key expansion step, is crucial. It produces the key used in later circlesIn the initial step, your plain text begins alteration after the key has been added. Without it, for every round, the same key gets added, making AES easier to break. in modern times .

The second stage is the byte substitution, another crucial stage. Interestingly, Here, a pre-determined table is used to transform each facts point. Doing this as a matter of fact changes the information in an unsystematic way; this is done to confuse the facts.Confusion torefersa deliberate process applied to conceal the affiliation between an initial text and the encrypted data.

Another very critical stage is the shift rows stage; this stage performs a task called diffusion. In the world of cryptography, diffusion is the process of transposing data to make it more complicated. In fact, The information is changed from its initial position to another position to obscure the row further by information shift.

On the other as a matter of fact hand, column mix has similar functionality, but here it alters the information vertically and not horizontally.

This is done to further confuse the facts. In fact, Upon concluding round, another roundonekey (gotten from the original key) is added.

Why AES encryption involves so many rounds?

Despite the tons of processes, including byte substitution, round key be, column mix, and row shift which alter the original information, AES encryption can addition broken by expert cryptanalysis (a process of studying algorithms to decrypt it).

There are also shortcut attacks to worry about. This type of.attack can break encryption easier than brute force Upon designing the encryption security strength, the developers found shortcut attacks in at least six stages of the entire process.

Given this threat, four additional rounds were then added, bringing the minimum-security margin to 128-bit. The 10 rounds resulting from this addition gave AES enough fortification to avert shortcut attacks and has soremainedeven in today’s technology.

Wouldn’t it be better to add extra circles to strengthen security?

Like other security features, a balance between usability, performance, and defensive strength is needed. It’s like placing ten metal doors with bolts at every entry and exit point to your home. While it would make it very secure, it will take a ludicrous amount of time to enter and exit; hence, no one would.

It’s the same with encryption. Yes, it could be made safer by including extra circles, but the process would become slow and inefficientThus, developers have settled on .ten, twelve, and fourteen AES rounds of encryption because they create a balance in all the key aspects, especially in today’s technological space.

Decrypting AES

to fact, Were you able In get all I have explained on AES encryption thus far? Here, it uses If yes, then be would decryption relatively easier to understand.inverse encryption to reverse AES return to its originalciphertextstate.

As stated earlier, AES makes use of symmetric cryptography. Interestingly, and simpler terms, it means that it uses the same key for encryption In decryption of information.

It’s worth noting that This is different from algorithms thatkeysutilize asymmetric encryption, which uses both private and public .

Actually, In this, case moving from the code “pl34c8b0j4k 394vjwmg09wt98b” to theoriginal plaintext “get me some water please,” carry out entire inthereverse, applying the reverse of each encryption process.

After that, it moves to the reverse of the nine, eleven, and thirteen rounds. this, it in modern times will look something like Overall: As you may know, Therefore, the decryption process begins with the reverse round key addition, proceed is the reverse row shift, and then reverse byte substitution.

• Reverse round key addition
• Reverse row shift
• Inverse byte substitution
• Reverse round key addition (again)
• Inverse column mix
• Reverse row shift (again)
• Inverse byte substitution (again)

the latter four happening nine, eleven, or thirteen times (depending on the 192 of the keys, i.e., 128, size, or 256-bit)

• Reverse round key addition

After the key iswilldecrypted, you have your original message go back— “get me some water, please.”

Interestinglybit128-, vs. 192-bit vs. 256-bit advanced encryption standards

The more than ever major As you already know.AES features three encryption lengths, difference between all three is the number of circlesIndeed, that information goes through during encryption; it can either be ten, twelve, and fourteen. Thus, 192-bit provides more security edge than 128-bit, while 256-bit have more security margin 192-bit and 128-bit.

In the present technological world, 128-bit is no longer sufficient for utilize. The in modern times more sensitive information like top-secret files, which have advanced threat levels, is safer being processed with 256 or 192-bit in modern times AES.

It’ not necessary to employ 192-bit or 256-bit to encrypt personal orsless critical information as 128-bit will do. For instance, But if you would instead go for it, fine as a matter of fact that’s then. Note, though, that it comes with its own cost.256-bit has four extra circles more than 128-bit, thereby making it 40% less efficient.

Are there any security issues with AES encryption?

Right immediately, AES remains an exceptionally more than ever guarded encryption model. But this may not remain the same a few years from asap.

While there has been no recorded real-life attack yet, the speedy-paced evolution of technology may pose a potential threat in no distant time.

Besides mistakes do, happen. For instance, if there is a wrong implementation of AES encryption, the potential errors from the mistake could serve as a window for a cybercriminal to hack into the system.

Fortunately, the right usage of AES prevents suchsuccessful hacks from happening.

To ensure AES remains impenetrable, cryptographers are always checking the encryption method for weaknessesInterestingly, . They are constantly developing recent techniques; they also always utilize the innovation they have come across. In fact, This is an crucial process, and if it’s not constantly tested by professionals, then cybercriminals or nations could uncover ways to break it without anyone knowing about it.

It’s worth noting that Below are some theoretical ways to crack AES encryption.

Related as it turns out -key attacks 1.

These attacks target the encryption key. They require effort andlesstime and are more likely to be successful (if ever). Interestingly, Related-key attacks aren’t a major concern as they can only occur if the protocol isn’t well implemented.

Infact, Even at that, there have been a few of these attacks targeted at AES as a matter of fact encryption. The as it turns out most popular attack was in 2009 from another perspective . To prevent a recurrence of as a matter of fact such attacks, cryptographers further increased the complexity of the AES key schedule.

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2. Actually-Key, recovery attacks

To succeed at a key-recovery attack, the hacker must have at least a pair of decrypted and encrypted texts.

It’s worth noting that To assessment AES resistance to cracking, cryptographers carried out a key-recovery attack in 2011Actually, . But while it didn’t yield any positive result, it only showed that it was about four times quicker than a brute-force attack (an attack that would take at least a billion years).

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3 in modern times . Side-channel attacks

Although several theoretical attacks have been assumed, they would have to take many years (a billion years at least) to crack. Therefore, AES at this moment is impossible to crack or break.

Regardless, it remains cracking to prone if not properly implemented, most likely, through a side-channel attack.

This type of attack happens when there is a data leak from a system. Here, an attacker collates the timing of the data, listens to sound, power consumption, or electromagnetic information. Doing this helps the attacker collate readings which he can use to crack it.

Indeed, If there is a proper implementation of AES, then preventing a side-channel unprecedented attack becomes possible either by deleting the cause of the information leak or by making sure there isn’t an obvious relationship between the algorithm process and the leaked information.

Size of Key	Likely Combination
256-bits AES	1.1 x 1077
192-bits AES	6.2 x 1057
128-bits AES	3.4 x 1038
64-bits	1.8 x 1019
56-bits DES	7.2 x 1016
32-bits	4.2 x 109
16-bits	65536
8-bits	256
4-bits	16
2-bits	4
1-bit	2

The table above shows the key sizes and the corresponding likely combinations needed to crack them by a brute-force attack.

It’s worth noting that Let’s take 128-bit for instance:

The number of years required to break the 128-bit key will be:

=(3.4 x 10³⁸) [(10.51 x 10¹²) x 31536000] (where 10.51 x 10¹² is the number of Flops per second and 31536000 is the number of seconds in a year)

=(0.323 as a matter of fact x 10²⁶)   31536000

Asmayyou know, = 1.02 x 10¹⁸

= 1 billion years

If it takes one billion years to decrypt 128-bit, imagine how long it would take to crack 256-bit. This only shows that AES is super-encrypted.

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4. Indeed, Known-key distinctive attacks

This is more of a general attack focused than on AES alone. However, note thatusing AES does not guarantee their safety. Known-key distinctive attacks can still occur if the attacker knows the consumer’s key (this is unlikely though).

But in 2009, hackers tried cracking AES-128 using known distinct-key. It’s worth noting that This was successful but only against the 8-round version as against the whole ten rounds of encryption.In reality, this was no real threat.

Actually, Regardless, users must ensure they keep their data secure, and AES is just a tiny part of it. With other methods such as virus detection, effective firewalls, password management, and enlightenment about social attacks, users’ data will always be kept safe.

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AES encryption sample

Actually, There are several instances where developers can utilize AES. Here are : few examplesa

• Virtual Private Networks (VPNs): A VPN secures your connection, ensures your online privacy and protection. However, it cannot achieve this without the use of an effective encryption program. Most VPNs use AES 256-bit keys to ensure there are no data leaks. Examples of such VPNs include ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark.
• Mobile application: Many well-known apps such as Facebook Messenger and Snapchat use this encryption to safeguard their users’ sensitive information such as messages and pictures.
• Wireless networks: WiFi also makes use of this along with WPA2. But while AES is not the only type of encryption available for use, other types of encryptions are not as safe as AES.
• Operating system components: Some OS components, such as file systems, use AES to provide an extra layer of safety and security.
• Password managers: Some programs feature a lot of delicate data, and to protect this information, password managers such as NordPass and LastPass take AES implementation seriously.
• Compression and archive tools: Compression tools such as RAR, WinZip, and 7z use AES to prevent data leaks.

All the examples mentioned above do seem impressive, but they do not represent all AES are used for. AES encryption as it turns out includes disk encryption systems, data systems, and web browsers.

Besides, you used AES in opening this article because your web browser is mandated to encrypt your connection with this more than ever article via SSL (HTTPS).

may you As know, Is AES encryption enough?

As you may know, While it’s existed for two decades (since 2001 precisely), the recurring process of key addition, byte substitution, row shift, and column mix has thrived for a long time. Interestingly, In today’s world, a lot of sensitive information is transmitted via online meansthereby, making AES a vital part of people’s security detail.

Regardless of all the hypothetical attacks and attempted side-channel attacks, Advanced Encryption Standard remains a secure encryption method. , factInAES encryption standard has proven to be an excellent means of securing online communication and is applicable in many cases where sensitive facts requires protection.

Given its high level of cipher technologies and sophisticated techniques, rest assured that AES will serve your security needs.

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