•Because of small block size and slow software of 3DES
and DES, NIST in 1997 issued
a call for proposals for a new Advanced Encryption Standard which should have a security strength equal to or better
than 3DES and significantly
improved efficiency.
•NIST also specified that AES must be a symmetric block
cipher with a block length of
128 bits and support key lengths of 128, 192 and 256 bits.
•In
the first round of evaluation, 15 proposed algorithms were accepted.
•The
second round narrowed the field to 5 algorithms.
•In November of 2001, NIST selected Rijndael as the
proposed AES algorithm.
This is by two Belgium scholars, Dr. Joan Daemen and Dr. Vincent Rijmen.