Microsoft has announced that it will remove the Data Encryption Standard (DES) from Windows, a step that comes as no surprise given the long-standing vulnerabilities associated with its use. DES has been criticized for its weak encryption since the late 1990s, with security researchers demonstrating that even back then, DES keys could be cracked in less than three days.
The decision to eliminate DES follows its designation as insecure in modern cryptographic contexts. Microsoft plans to phase out DES starting in September 2025. This change will affect Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 versions, with DES already disabled by default in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
The inefficacy of DES was particularly highlighted in a 1998 demonstration by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which successfully cracked DES keys using a supercomputer built with nearly 2,000 specialized CPUs. Initially, the US government’s stance was that DES’s short key length of 56 bits represented no significant risk, a belief that was later disproven by ongoing advancements in computational power.
With this upcoming change, Microsoft aims to adopt more robust encryption methods to protect users from modern cryptographic attacks. The removal of DES signifies a broader move towards enhancing security measures within its software infrastructure.
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