Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is associated with symmetric encryption?

• A. Asymmetric encryption
• B. Hash-based encryption
• C. Quasi-homomorphic encryption
• D. Symmetric encryption

Answer: (D)

AES is a symmetric encryption algorithm, meaning the same secret key is used to both encrypt and decrypt the data. This makes it fast and efficient for handling large amounts of data, which is why it’s widely adopted for secure communication and storage. It contrasts with asymmetric encryption, which relies on a public/private key pair that enables secure key exchange but is generally slower. Hash-based approaches aren’t encryption at all—they produce fixed digests that are not reversible, used for integrity, not confidentiality. Homomorphic or quasi-homomorphic ideas involve performing computations on encrypted data, which AES isn’t designed to do. In short, AES is a classic example of symmetric encryption.