The U.S. government has updated its encryption standard for computer transmissions, replacing an aging standard first put in place in 1977, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.When the new Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES, is adopted by the government and private . . .
The U.S. government has updated its encryption standard for computer transmissions, replacing an aging standard first put in place in 1977, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.When the new Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES, is adopted by the government and private businesses, it should significantly strengthen the privacy and security of a wide variety of computer transactions, from cash-machine withdrawals to Internet shopping to sensitive e-mails.

"The AES will help the nation protect its critical information infrastructures and ensure privacy for personal information about individual Americans," Secretary of Commerce Don Evans said in a press release.

Scientists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) tested various mathematical formulas for four years before settling on one developed by two Belgian scientists, Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen, Commerce said.

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