What is the main industry standard file encryption

For file protection, many companies and individuals use file encryption, which is similar to the encryption methods used for email.  The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in 2001, announced the release of AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), which is also known as Rijndael.  This standard was adopted bu the US government, and is now in use worldwide.  It is the first encryption standard approved by the US NSA (National Security Agency) for TOP SECRET encoding has been allowed access by the general public.

There were five standard encryption techniques vying for the distinction of becoming the standard, Rijndael, Serpent, Twofish, RC6, and MARS, with Rijndael being voted the winner by more than a one-third margin.  It’s name is derived from the names of the two Belgian cryptographers who designed it, and it was first developed in 1998.

Technically, AES and Rijndael are not the same, but the terms are commonly used the two terms interchangeably.  AES uses a a fixed block size of 128 bits, with key sizes of 128, 192, or 256 bits.  Rijndael, on the other hand allows key and block sizes to be specified in any multiple of 32 bits, up to 256 bits.  This allows a greater degree of flexibility and security.  It uses a 4 step encryption process known as Rounds, which substitute characters based on the key key used for that particular round.

Unlike earlier 64 bit encryption methods, AES has, to date, not been broken or hacked into by forward, or brute, attacks.  There are a small number of successful breaks in the code achieved against the 128 bit encryption method, but all such attacks were made from the same system on which the AES encryption was being performed.  Current theory estimates that AES cannot be hacked over the internet with more than 1 hop (server relay) involved, which makes it as secure of an encryption method as can be had by the general public.

Article written by MyComputerAid.com