Module 5 · Symmetric Cryptography in Practice

Manish Garg
Manish Garg Associate of (ISC)² · RingSafe
Apr 27, 2026
1 min read
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Last updated: April 29, 2026

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Symmetric crypto is fast, ubiquitous, and routinely misused.

Symmetric crypto is fast, ubiquitous, and routinely misused.

Modes that matter

  • AES-256-GCM — authenticated encryption with associated data; default choice
  • ChaCha20-Poly1305 — alternative AEAD; faster on devices without AES-NI
  • AES-CBC — legacy; no built-in auth (vulnerable to padding-oracle if MAC absent)
  • AES-CTR — fast; needs separate MAC; nonce reuse catastrophic
  • AES-ECB — never use; reveals patterns
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