Data Encryption Standard (DES)

• Adopted in 1977, reaffirmed for 5 years in 1994, by NBS(NIST)

• Plaintext is 64 bits (or blocks of 64 bits), key is 56 bits

• Plaintext goes through 16 iterations, each producing an intermediate value that is used in the next iteration

• DES is now too easy to crack to be a useful encryption method