An examination of a Web-based Advanced Encryption Standard system

The Rijndael algorithm forms the basis of the Advanced Encryption Standard which is used in many applications today. The understanding of how this algorithm works, along with a basic implementation of it, is essential to understanding more advanced forms of cryptography which will become commonplace over the next several years.; It is the goal to understand how this algorithm has come into usage today in many applications and why it has gained the popularity that it has for being a "secure" algorithm. Furthermore, a discussion of how this algorithm may be implemented in a straight-forward fashion is provided.; The conclusion of this study shows that the algorithm can be efficiently implemented within a Java applet for demonstration purposes along with forming the basis of an advanced Cryptology lab for studying algorithms at the University of Louisville.