Full definition
AES is a block cipher operating on 128-bit blocks with 128, 192 or 256-bit keys and 14 transformation rounds in AES-256 mode. Approved by NSA for Top Secret information in the US. Common modes: AES-CBC (Cipher Block Chaining, requires IV), AES-GCM (authenticated, TLS 1.3 standard), AES-XTS (disk standard in BitLocker, FileVault, LUKS). Every modern ransomware (LockBit, BlackCat, Akira, etc.) uses AES-256 to encrypt files individually, and RSA-2048 or ECC to encrypt the AES key. Without the operator's RSA key, decrypting AES is mathematically infeasible: brute-forcing AES-256 is estimated to take more than the age of the universe even with all global computing power.
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