Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI)

What is it?

Intel® AES-NI is a new encryption instruction set that improves on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm and accelerates the encryption of data in the Intel® Xeon® processor family and the 2^nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family.

Comprised of seven new instructions, Intel® AES-NI gives your IT environment faster, more affordable data protection and greater security, making pervasive encryption feasible in areas where previously it was not.

Intel® AES-NI

Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions

Why Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) matters

With recent advancements in cloud computing, businesses are sending more business-critical information into the cloud and outside the security perimeter of the traditional IT environments than ever before. As a result, a more widely usable and secure encryption standard such as AES and acceleration mechanisms like Intel® AES-NI are essential.

Thankfully, AES is a widely-deployed encryption standard when protecting network traffic, personal data, and corporate IT infrastructures, and Intel® AES-NI can be used to accelerate the AES encryption. With such robust, affordable, and flexible options, Intel® AES-NI can help your business stay ahead of growing threats.

How it works

By implementing some intensive sub-steps of the AES algorithm into the hardware, Intel® AES-NI strengthens and accelerates execution of the AES application.

The seven new instructions comprising Intel® AES-NI accelerate encryption and decryption and improve key generation and matrix manipulation, all while aiding in carry-less multiplication. This minimizes application performance concerns inherent in traditional cryptographic processing and provides enhanced security by addressing recently discovered side channel attacks on AES.