| DES DES is
a block encryption method originally developed by IBM. It has since been
certified by the U.S. government for transmission of any data that is not
classified top secret. DES uses an algorithm for doing private-key
encryption. The key consists of 64 bits of data, which are transformed and
combined with the first 64 bits of the message to be sent. To do the
encryption, the message is broken up into 64-bit blocks so that each can
be combined with the key using a complex 16-step process. Though DES is
fairly weak, with only one iteration, repeating it using slightly
different keys can provide excellent security. |