Data Encryption Standard Algorithm

The Data Encryption Standard, DES, is a symmetric block cipher that encrypts data in 64 bit blocks using a 56 bit key through sixteen rounds of a Feistel network structure combining substitution and permutation. It was developed by IBM and adopted as a United States federal standard in 1977. Its short key length left it vulnerable to brute force attack as computing power grew, and it was formally superseded by the Advanced Encryption Standard in the early 2000s, though it remains historically important as the first widely deployed government encryption standard.