All You Need To Know About AES Encryption

Security is one of the most important aspects for businesses considering the increasing number of cyber attacks that can lead to data loss. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is an algorithm that protects sensitive information from hackers and intruders. This algorithm is essential for enterprises as it prevents data breaches which maintains reputation and builds trust among customers. In this blog, you’ll learn AES encryption meaning, how it works, its benefits, its future, and more.

What is an (AES) Advanced Encryption Standard Encryption?

AES encryption is a symmetric block cipher created by the U.S. government and released in 2001 after extensive research and development. This algorithm uses the same key for encryption and decryption and can be implemented on both hardware and software to protect the data. AES is a successor of DES and consists of three key lengths 128-bit, 192-bit, and 256-bit each has its security levels. It takes plain information, splits it into small blocks, and converts it into cipher text.

Types of AES Encryption

128-bit, 192-bit, and 256-bit are three types of key lengths in AES for data sectors which protect data from brute force, dictionary attacks, and more. The 128-bit is widely used at consumer levels whereas the 192-bit AES encryption and 256-bit encryption algorithms are reserved for highly sensitive information in government sectors. However, it requires more processing power and time to encrypt and decrypt data due to the increasing complexity of key lengths.

Why was the AES-Encryption Algorithm Necessary?

AES encryption algorithm is necessary to secure data used by most tech giants and other data-sensitive organizations. Unlike the DES encryption algorithm, AES provides a wider range of cryptographic keys like 128-bit,192-bit, and 256-bit. This vast range enables banks, hospitals, and top-level institutions to protect their customer database in their SATA or SAS SSD from unwanted access.

How Does the AES-Encryption Algorithm Work?

AES encrypts and decrypts data in blocks of 128 bits utilizing different cryptographic keys like 128-bit,192-bit, and 256-bit. These keys go through 10, 12, and 14 rounds of encryption, respectively. The number of rounds reflects the security of data and each round consists of multiple processing steps. This includes substitution, transposition, and mixing of the plaintext input to transform it into the final ciphertext.

The Role of Keys in AES-Encryption

The key of your encryption algorithm is highly important as it redos multiple rounds of encryption to better protect the data integrity in your solid state drives. The strength of your key depends on the length and complexity that is utilized by both encryption and decryption. The best part is the greater the number of rounds, the better it will secure the data but it will require more processing power. Let’s look into the three most important types of encryption keys that are used in different sectors.

• AES-128 uses a 128-bit key length and is less secure but better than its predecessors.
• AES-192 uses a 192-bit highly secure key and is mostly used by top organizations.
• AES-256 uses a 256-bit key length to encrypt and decrypt message blocks.

Key Generation and Management

AES-encrypted keys are created with the help of a secure random mechanism at NAS or SAN in the server. It uses the key expansion process where the initial key is used to bring up a new key, called key round keys. These round keys are generated multiple times to secure your data Therefore, enterprises should carefully monitor the distribution and maintenance of the keys. If the key is lost, the encrypted data will also be compromised.

How AES is it beneficial for your businesses?

Following are some ways of encrypting your business with AES and implementing it within the organization.

Increased Security

Cyberattacks are common and their favorite target is businesses of every level. Therefore, the AES encryption algorithm has been used to protect the confidentiality of an organization. It offers robust encryption that is hard to crack, making it difficult to read the data or access for unwanted users on your internal hard drive. The AES symmetric key technique uses the same key commonly used in opal 2.0 SED for encryption and decryption, making it quick and effective.

Improved Data Protection

AES encryption can enhance overall data protection and security with improved authentication security, ensuring that only authentic users can access the data. On the other hand, it encrypts the data and converts the text into an unreadable format, making it difficult to breach data during transmission.

Advantages and Disadvantages of AES Encryption

AES is one of the most secure encryption algorithms but it has its drawbacks as well

Advantages	Disadvantages
Security	Susceptible to Side-channel Attacks
Speed	Block Cipher Limitation
Standardization	Key Management Challenges
Versatility	Potential Quantum Threat
Good at scalability	Resource Intensive
Better Hardware support	Cryptographic Agility

How is it helpful in HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR?

AES encryption proves to be a valuable tool for complying with data security regulations in your storage devices. These data security compliances are HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

HIPAA

The (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) HIPAA Security Rule mandates specific safeguards for Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). One requirement is encryption for data at rest and in transit. AES, with its strong algorithm, fulfills this requirement and strengthens HIPAA compliance. Therefore, it safeguards ePHI like patient medical records, social security numbers, and other identifiable data in rest and transit.

PCI DSS

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) mandates strong encryption for cardholders at rest. It applies to all organizations that handle card information like card numbers, expiration dates, and more. AES is a widely accepted and NIST-approved method that meets this requirement and helps organizations achieve PCI DSS compliance.

GDPR

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) emphasizes data protection principles like confidentiality and integrity. AES 256 encryption aligns with these principles by ensuring that only authorized individuals can access data and the data remains unaltered during storage and transmission. While GDPR doesn’t explicitly require encryption, it encourages pseudonymization (replacing personal data with a substitute identifier). AES-256 encryption can be a powerful tool to further protect pseudonymized data, adding an extra layer of security to your SATA or NVMe SSD.

Best programming Language for AES Encryption

There are a bunch of different languages that can be used to apply AES-256 bit encryption in your business. Below are a few that you can use for your enterprise.

Language	Advantages	Disadvantages	Consideration for Enterprises
Python	Easy to use with a large library and developer community	Slow for performance-critical applications	Great for rapid development, prototyping, and scripting
Java	Secure with built-in architecture	Can be verbose	Ideal for large-scale enterprises with existing Java systems.
C/C++	Highest performance	More prone to security vulnerabilities	Best for performance-critical systems where speed is paramount
Go	Modern language for security	Small community	Well-suited for building scalable and secure backend services

Future of AES

After all the advancements in technology, According to NIST, businesses can expect to see some exponential changes in the future. Therefore, it is highly important to be aware of the growth in AES.

• A larger key size is expected in the future that will improve the security even further
• To address certain security concerns, new modes of operation such as Galois Counter Mode (GCM) are being developed. This will also add security features like integrity protection and authentication.
• More advancements in hardware acceleration may speed up the encryption and decoding of data.

How To Prevent Attacks on Encryption

Hackers and intruders never leave a chance to find loopholes in encryption. Therefore, it is important to take the following steps to ensure better security.

• Use Strong Password
• Use password Managers
• Implement multi-factor authentication
• Deploy firewalls and anti-malware software
• Opt for a modern CPU processor that supports encryption and TPM 1.2 or TPM 2.0
• Provide security awareness training to staff members to shield them against phishing and social engineering scams.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is 128-bit AES Encryption Secure?

Yes, 128-bit AES encryption is secure even with the impact of quantum computers.

How To Implement AES 256-Bit Encryption?

AES is a substitution-permutation network that uses a key expansion process where the initial key is used to create new keys.

Can AES Encryption Be Cracked?

AES-256 encryption is virtually uncrackable using any brute-force method. It would take millions of years to break it using the current computing technology and capabilities. This is an overview of understanding AES encryption and how it is beneficial for businesses to implement it on storage devices like HDD or SSD. You can also reduce the encryption processing time by upgrading your server system to an SSHD or an HDD for better security. In addition to that, you can also learn more about GDDR6 and GDDR6X and how this new graphics technology is making PCs and servers better and more secure.

For more such information about the latest technologies and encryptions stay tuned to Computing Worlds Blog.