AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a symmetric block cipher standardized by NIST (FIPS 197) used to protect classified and sensitive data. This skill covers implementing AES-256 encryption in GCM m
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a symmetric block cipher standardized by NIST (FIPS 197) used to protect classified and sensitive data. This skill covers implementing AES-256 encryption in GCM mode for encrypting files and data stores at rest, including proper key derivation, IV/nonce management, and authenticated encryption.
| Mode | Authentication | Parallelizable | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| GCM | Yes (AEAD) | Yes | Network data, file encryption |
| CBC | No | Decrypt only | Legacy systems, disk encryption |
| CTR | No | Yes | Streaming encryption |
| CCM | Yes (AEAD) | No | IoT, constrained environments |
Never use raw passwords as encryption keys. Always derive keys using:
os.urandom() (CSPRNG)cryptography library: pip install cryptography[salt: 16 bytes][nonce: 12 bytes][ciphertext: variable][tag: 16 bytes]