Differences Between Rijndael and AES

Question

I\'m investigating encryption algorithms - can someone give me a quick rundown of the differences between Rijndael and AES?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is not an algorithm. AES is a specification defined by the National Institute of Standards & Technology of the United States (NIST). AES is the successor of the Data Encryption Standard (DES).

AES has been announced in FIPS PUB 197 on November 26, 2001. Federal Information Processing Standards Publications (FIPS PUB) are issued by NIST after approval by the US Secretary of Commerce.

Rijndael is a symmetric key encryption algorithm created by Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen. It is a block cipher, with variable block size, variable key length & variable round number. Block length and key length can be independently specified to any multiple of 32 bits from 128 bits to 256 bits.

The Rijndael cipher as been selected as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

In the Rijndael AES variant the block size is restricted to 128 bits and key length to 128, 192 or 256 bits only.

• NIST document on naming for AES/Rijndael
• NIST FIPS PUB 197