The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a widely used encryption algorithm that has become the de facto standard for protecting sensitive data.

A cryptographic hash function is a mathematical algorithm that takes an input and produces a fixed-size string of bits, which is typically a "hash value" or "digest.

Cryptography is the study of techniques used to secure communication in the presence of adversaries.

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) is a private research university located in Baltimore, Maryland.

John von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist.

A key in cryptography is a piece of information, usually a string of numbers or letters that are stored in a file, which, when processed through a cryptographic algorithm, can encode or decode cryptographic data.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975.