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Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez recently approved the withdrawal of the Data Encryption Standard (Federal Information Processing Standard 46-3) and two related standards that provide for the implementation and operation of the DES. Adopted in 1977 for federal agencies to use in protecting sensitive, unclassified information, the DES is being withdrawn because it no longer provides the security that is needed to protect federal government information.
Federal agencies are encouraged to use the Advanced Encryption Standard, a faster and stronger algorithm approved as FIPS 197 in 2001. For more information, see the FIPS website.