Encryption is defined as a process of translating a message, called the Plaintext, into an encoded message, called the Ciphertext. The Ciphertext is encoded text, after it has been passed through an Encryption algorithm and is the product of Plaintext after Encryption. A Cipher is a computer software algorithm used for Encryption. Encryption is usually accomplished using a secr

In 1998, H.R. 850 known as SAFE, Security and Freedom Through Encryption Act, were introduced into Congress. The three purposes of this bill were to allow the purchase of any type of encryption software and prevent the government from restricting encryption software, allow for fewer export restrictions of encryption software, and prohibit any third party access to the encryption key of any piece of software. The purpose was to ensure that the U.S. was competing in the encryption market worldwide, which current restrictions were preventing them from doing so effectively.

AES is a standard from the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) that was developed to replace DES. NIST held a challenge for researchers to submit algorithms that would be chosen to become AES. The winner of this challenge is called Rijndael and was designed by J. Daemen and V. Rijnmen. Rijndael is a symmetric cryptosystem using 128-bit, 196-bit and 256-bit input and keys. “NIST chose Rijndael because it combines simplicity and high performance.” (Smith, 2001) This will be the algorithm I will be focusing on for the remainder of this paper.

et key and a cryptographic Cipher. Two basic types of Encryption that are commonly used are Symmetric Encryption, where a single secret key is used for both encryption and decryption or Asymmetric Encryption, where a pair of keys is used, one for Encryption and the other for Decryption.

Again, in light of this growing problem, my belief is that it is not worth exposing all the confidential information that is at risk so that the government is able to look into information whenever they want. I do not believe that the government should be able to decipher confidential information. There is much more confidential information out there that is at risk than the information that they are looking for about terrorists or criminals.

In light of my research and experience with computers, I believe it is necessary for all information transmitted over the Internet and Satellites to be protected with encryption standards that cannot be deciphered by anyone. By providing relaxed encryption standards so that the government can decipher information, we leave the window open for “computer geniuses” to be able to crack the code and steal important information. The problems we are currently having will continue.

Some topics in this essay:
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