Which encryption standard has largely been replaced due to security flaws?

The correct answer is that the Data Encryption Standard (DES) has largely been replaced due to security flaws. DES was established in the 1970s as a federal standard for encrypting sensitive, but unclassified, information. It utilizes a 56-bit key for encryption, which has become insufficient in the face of modern computational power. Over time, advances in technology have made it increasingly feasible for attackers to use brute force techniques to break DES encryption, leading to its vulnerability.

Because of these weaknesses, cryptographic experts and organizations have gradually moved towards more secure encryption standards. For instance, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) was adopted as a replacement for DES in 2001, providing a key length of 128, 192, or 256 bits, which offers vastly improved security compared to DES. Other algorithms, such as RSA and Blowfish, also serve different purposes and contexts in cryptography, but those do not face the same level of obsolescence as DES, primarily due to their differing strengths and functionalities. Thus, DES’s known vulnerabilities have led many organizations to deprecate its use in favor of more secure alternatives like AES.