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🔐 Cryptographic Key Protocol Comparison
Symmetric Key Protocols
| Name | Type | Key Length(s) | Primary Use | Standard / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AES | Symmetric | 128 / 192 / 256 bits | Data-at-rest encryption, VPNs, Wi-Fi (WPA2) | NIST FIPS 197; very widely used |
| DES | Symmetric | 56 bits | Legacy systems (deprecated) | Obsolete; replaced by AES |
| 3DES | Symmetric | 112 / 168 bits | Legacy applications (banking, payments) | Slow and being phased out |
| RC4 | Symmetric | 40–2048 bits | Stream encryption (deprecated – insecure) | Deprecated in TLS and WPA2 |
| ChaCha20 | Symmetric | 256 bits | Modern stream cipher, TLS, mobile devices | Often used with Poly1305 MAC |
| Blowfish | Symmetric | 32–448 bits | File and backup encryption | Superseded by AES in most contexts |
| Twofish | Symmetric | Up to 256 bits | AES finalist, still in use in some systems | Slower than AES in some implementations |
Asymmetric Key Protocols
| Name | Type | Key Length(s) | Primary Use | Standard / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSA | Asymmetric | 1024 / 2048 / 3072 / 4096+ bits | Digital signatures, key exchange, TLS, S/MIME | PKCS#1 / FIPS 186-4 |
| Diffie-Hellman (DH) | Asymmetric | 2048 / 3072 bits | Secure key exchange (e.g. IPsec, TLS) | Vulnerable if not using safe parameters |
| ECDH | Asymmetric | 224 / 256 / 384 / 521 bits | Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (key exchange) | Faster and more secure than classic DH |
| ElGamal | Asymmetric | Variable | Encryption, key exchange (less common today) | Basis for some DSA variants |
| ECC | Asymmetric | 256 / 384 / 521 bits | Encryption, key exchange, digital signatures | Used in ECDSA, ECDH, EdDSA |
| DSA | Asymmetric | 1024–3072 bits | Digital signatures (e.g. government systems) | FIPS 186-4; often replaced by ECDSA |
| EdDSA (Ed25519) | Asymmetric | 256 bits | High-performance signatures (modern TLS, SSH) | RFC 8032; strong and efficient |