Data Encryption Standard (DES)

A private key cryptosystem published by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST). DES is a symmetric block cipher with a block length of 64 bits and an effective key length of 56 bits. DES has been used commonly for data encryption in the forms of software and hardware implementation. A standard cryptosystem proposed in 1977 for all government communications. DES and 3DES were superseded by Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in December 2001. Cryptographic algorithm, designed for the protection of unclassified data and published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 46. (FIPS 463 withdrawn 19 May 2005) (. See Triple DES) and CNSS Advisory IA/0204 Revised March 2005)