Status Report on the First Round of the Development of the Advanced Encryption Standard

Published

November 17, 1999

Author(s)

James R. Nechvatal, Elaine B. Barker, Donna F. Dodson, Morris J. Dworkin, James Foti, E Roback

Abstract

In 1997, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a process to select a symmetric-key encryption algorithm to be used to protect sensitive (unclassified) Federal Information, in furtherance of NIST's statutory responsibilities. In 1998, NIST announced the acceptance of fifteen candidate algorithms and requested the assistance of the cryptographic research community in analyzing the candidates. This analysis included an initial examination of the security and efficiency characteristics for each algorithm. NIST has reviewed the results of this research and selected five algorithms (MARS, RC6, Rijndael, Serpent and Twofish) as finalists. The research results and rationale for the selection of the finalists are documented in this report. The five finalists will be the subject of further study before the selection of one or more of these algorithms for inclusion in the Advanced Encryption Standard.

Citation

Journal of Research (NIST JRES) -

Volume

104

Issue

5

NIST Pub Series

Journal of Research (NIST JRES)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

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Keywords

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), cryptanalysis, cryptographic algorithms, cryptography, encryption

Citation

Nechvatal, J. , Barker, E. , Dodson, D. , Dworkin, M. , Foti, J. and Roback, E. (1999), Status Report on the First Round of the Development of the Advanced Encryption Standard, Journal of Research (NIST JRES), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=151195 (Accessed October 27, 2025)