AES is
Aan asymmetric encryption algorithm
Ba key-exchange protocol
Ca hashing algorithm
Dthe Advanced Encryption Standard — a block cipher
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. the Advanced Encryption Standard — a block cipher
1. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard): a SYMMETRIC BLOCK CIPHER, standardised by NIST in 2001 (FIPS 197).
2. Operates on 128-bit blocks; key sizes 128, 192, or 256 bits.
3. Internally uses substitution-permutation rounds (10/12/14 rounds for the three key sizes).
4. UNIVERSALLY ADOPTED: hardware-accelerated on virtually every modern CPU (AES-NI), used in TLS, full-disk encryption, WPA2/3, etc.
5. Other options misidentify AES.
_Source: Boneh & Shoup, "A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography", §4 (Block ciphers + AES)._
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