original_query: What is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)?
query: What is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)?
answer: The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known as Rijndael, is a specification for encrypting electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001.  It's a symmetric-key algorithm, meaning the same key is used for encryption and decryption.  NIST selected three versions with a 128-bit block size and key lengths of 128, 192, and 256 bits.