Is AES still recommended

You have probably asked this question because encryption choices shape risk, performance, and compliance across your organization, and the answer begins with the advanced encryption standard. Today, AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] still underpins most protected internet traffic, mobile storage, and enterprise collaboration, thanks to rigorous peer review, hardware acceleration, and standards support across platforms. While new threats and post-quantum research dominate headlines, practical security comes from vetted algorithms, authenticated modes, strong keys, and disciplined organizational key-management practices, all of which AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] supports exceptionally well. If you are building or buying secure video conferencing or healthcare portals, understanding where AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] shines will help you align protection with regulations and user experience.

The advanced encryption standard in 2025: what still makes it the default

At a technical level, AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] remains the recommended symmetric cipher for governments, cloud providers, and application developers because no practical attacks exist against the core algorithm when implemented correctly. Agencies and standards bodies such as NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] continue to endorse AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] and require FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standards] 140-3 validated modules for federal use, signaling maturity, stability, and vetted implementations. Across the commercial internet, modern TLS [Transport Layer Security] stacks default to AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] because it delivers both confidentiality and integrity with high throughput on commodity CPUs [Central Processing Units] and GPUs [Graphics Processing Units], especially where AES-NI [Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions] is available. From a risk perspective, organizations report that encryption misconfiguration, not algorithm weakness, drives incidents, so sticking with AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] in authenticated modes and validated libraries remains a conservative, future-aware choice.

From a business standpoint, adopting AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] helps teams achieve compliance without blocking productivity because it is widely available, efficiently accelerated, and supported across browsers and mobile devices. Healthcare providers pursuing HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] controls, schools complying with FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act], and law firms protecting client confidentiality all benefit from a cipher that regulators recognize and auditors understand. In independent telemetry shared by major browser vendors, AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] suites account for the vast majority of encrypted sessions, which means interoperability is smooth and performance is predictable for end users. In other words, if your goal is dependable security that does not surprise your operations team, AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] remains the sensible default in 2025.

How AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] works, in plain terms

AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] is a symmetric block cipher, which means the same secret key encrypts and decrypts data blocks of 128 bits, and you choose key lengths of 128, 192, or 256 bits depending on your security and performance needs. The algorithm transforms each block through multiple rounds of substitution and permutation operations that diffuse patterns and make ciphertext appear random, with more rounds for larger keys to raise the work factor for attackers. In practice, you never use the bare cipher alone; you use a mode of operation, such as GCM [Galois/Counter Mode] or CCM [Counter with CBC-MAC], to safely encrypt longer messages and bind integrity metadata that detects tampering. Think of AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] as a powerful lock core, and the mode of operation as the door mechanism that ensures the lock is used correctly under different conditions.

To ground this in real-time communications, protocols like SRTP [Secure Real-time Transport Protocol] and DTLS [Datagram Transport Layer Security] pair AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] with ephemeral key exchange like ECDH [Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman] so that every call segment is encrypted and authenticated uniquely. Browsers further accelerate AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] using AES-NI [Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions], making end-to-end latency negligible for HD [High Definition] meetings and webinar broadcasts. For stored content, such as recorded sessions and generated transcripts, services commonly use AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] in GCM [Galois/Counter Mode] or XTS [XEX-based Tweaked Codebook mode with ciphertext stealing] modes to resist offline attacks and disk-level cloning. By combining AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] with robust key derivation like HKDF [HMAC-based Key Derivation Function] or PBKDF2 [Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2], you insulate secrets from weak passwords and maintain clear separation of duties between transport and storage keys.

Alternatives, quantum questions, and where AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] fits

You may wonder whether newer ciphers like ChaCha20-Poly1305 [ChaCha20-Poly1305 Authenticated Encryption] make AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] obsolete, but the reality is more nuanced, and dual support is common. ChaCha20-Poly1305 [ChaCha20-Poly1305 Authenticated Encryption] performs well on devices without AES-NI [Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions], while AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] excels on server-class CPUs [Central Processing Units] and modern mobiles, so most platforms negotiate the best option per connection. From a cryptanalytic standpoint, no publicly known attack breaks AES-128 [Advanced Encryption Standard 128-bit], AES-192 [Advanced Encryption Standard 192-bit], or AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] for real-world data at current scales, provided keys are random and implementations resist side-channel leakage. Accordingly, decision frameworks from cloud providers and government guidance still classify AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] as a first-line choice for symmetric encryption, supplemented by strong key exchange and signatures on the asymmetric side.

What about quantum computing, and does it change your plan today, next year, or in five years, given rapid investment and research progress. Quantum algorithms like Grover’s algorithm [Grover’s Algorithm for Quantum Search] theoretically cut brute-force search complexity in half-exponent terms, which suggests AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] preserves a comparable classical security margin to AES-128 [Advanced Encryption Standard 128-bit] in a post-quantum world. However, large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers capable of applying that pressure to symmetric ciphers do not exist yet, and NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] post-quantum cryptography focuses first on replacing RSA [Rivest-Shamir-Adleman] and ECDSA [Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm] used for key exchange and signatures. Consequently, a practical roadmap is to keep AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] for bulk encryption, adopt PQC [Post-Quantum Cryptography] algorithms for key establishment as they standardize, and use longer symmetric keys like AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] for high-value data to hedge future risk.

Compliance signals: HIPAA, GDPR, and sector auditors care how you use AES [Advanced Encryption Standard]

Regulations rarely endorse a single algorithm by name, but they do expect encryption to be strong, tested, and managed under documented controls, which is where AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] in validated modules stands out. HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] guidance calls for encryption of electronic protected health information in transit and at rest, and auditors frequently reference FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standards] 140 validations and NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] publications as acceptable evidence. GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] requires appropriate technical measures and emphasizes pseudonymization, key separation, and breach impact minimization, all of which AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] supports when paired with solid key management and rotation. In legal and corporate compliance frameworks like SOC 2 [Service Organization Control 2] and ISO 27001 [International Organization for Standardization 27001], assessors look for consistent use of authenticated encryption modes, documented key lifecycles, and incident response playbooks tied to encryption events.

AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] aligns to these expectations by implementing AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] for media planes over WebRTC [Web Real-Time Communications] and using AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] for stored assets, while operating within HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] and FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standards]-aware controls. Because AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] is 100 percent browser-based, users avoid insecure downloads and benefit from the same hardened crypto stacks maintained by browser vendors, reducing configuration drift and patching gaps. Moreover, AI [Artificial Intelligence]-powered summaries and live streaming sit behind the same encryption and access layers, ensuring that derivative artifacts do not leak beyond policy boundaries. For organizations spanning healthcare, education, and corporate sectors, this integrated approach to AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] usage helps translate policy clauses into operational reality.

Implementation best practices for video meetings and webinars

Strong encryption starts with mode selection and key handling, not marketing labels, so prefer AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] for streams and AES-256-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit Galois/Counter Mode] or AES-XTS [Advanced Encryption Standard XEX-based Tweaked Codebook mode with ciphertext stealing] for storage where appropriate. Use ephemeral ECDH [Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman] in your handshake so each session and even each media track enjoys unique keys, limiting replay and correlation risk across calls and devices. Enforce minimum key sizes of 128 bits for transport and 256 bits for long-term storage, and derive sub-keys with HKDF [HMAC-based Key Derivation Function] bound to context labels like room IDs and user roles to isolate compromise domains. Above all, deploy FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standards] 140-3 validated libraries and keep them patched, because side-channel flaws and nonce reuse bugs, not AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] itself, are the usual culprits in real incidents.

In practice, AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] integrates these patterns so your teams do not have to become cryptographers to run regulated meetings that scale. WebRTC [Web Real-Time Communications] provides HD [High Definition] Video and Audio Quality with SRTP [Secure Real-time Transport Protocol] over DTLS [Datagram Transport Layer Security], negotiating AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] automatically and leveraging hardware acceleration where available, even on thin clients. Because the platform is 100 percent browser-based, administrators avoid the risks of unmanaged client binaries, and security teams can rely on the rapid patch cycles of major browsers and operating systems. Unlimited webinars, AI [Artificial Intelligence]-powered summaries, and built-in live streaming run over the same secure backbone, giving you feature depth without abandoning the well-understood safety of AES [Advanced Encryption Standard].

• Use authenticated encryption: choose AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] or AES-CCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Counter with CBC-MAC].
• Separate keys and roles: isolate recording keys from live-session keys via HKDF [HMAC-based Key Derivation Function].
• Automate rotation: rotate transport keys per session and storage keys on a schedule using a KMS [Key Management Service] or HSM [Hardware Security Module].
• Defend side-channels: prefer constant-time, AES-NI [Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions]-backed libraries and disable CBC [Cipher Block Chaining] in new deployments.
• Log with care: capture key events without writing raw keys to logs; bind logs with SHA-256 [Secure Hash Algorithm 256] integrity tags.

Choosing key sizes and modes: a practical guide

Selection depends on data sensitivity, lifespan, and performance envelope, so start by asking how long the data must remain confidential and what devices will process it. For short-lived transport like a live lecture or telehealth visit, AES-128-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard 128-bit Galois/Counter Mode] is typically sufficient and measurably faster on older hardware, whereas recordings and legal archives benefit from AES-256-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit Galois/Counter Mode] or AES-256-XTS [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit XEX-based Tweaked Codebook mode with ciphertext stealing]. Nonces and initialization vectors must be unique for each encryption under the same key, which operationally means using library-generated values and never rolling your own, especially at streaming scale. Finally, avoid outdated modes like ECB [Electronic Codebook] entirely and restrain CBC [Cipher Block Chaining] to legacy decryption only, because modern stacks have robust authenticated alternatives that reduce foot-guns for busy teams.

Case study: how AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] applies AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] end to end

Consider a healthcare group hosting weekly telepsychiatry sessions and monthly town halls, where clinicians demand privacy, IT [Information Technology] demands simplicity, and patients demand zero-download access that just works. With AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform], each browser negotiates SRTP [Secure Real-time Transport Protocol] keys via DTLS [Datagram Transport Layer Security], and media is protected with AES-128-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard 128-bit Galois/Counter Mode] to keep latency imperceptible while satisfying HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] encryption addressable specifications. When a session is recorded for medical notes and later summarized by AI [Artificial Intelligence], the file is re-encrypted with AES-256-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit Galois/Counter Mode] under a dedicated storage key, rotated via the organization’s KMS and split by role to ensure clinicians and compliance officers have appropriate access. Auditable logs, integrity checks, and access controls map directly to HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act], GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation], and SOC 2 [Service Organization Control 2] expectations, proving that secure collaboration can coexist with speed and scale.

In a legal setting, a firm runs unlimited webinars for client education without buying add-ons, and uses AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] to deliver HD [High Definition] streams over AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] while controlling attendee access through signed links. Summaries generated by AI [Artificial Intelligence] are stored with AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit], and the team enforces retention policies to automatically expire sensitive content at predefined intervals, reducing exposure while staying compliant with professional responsibility rules. Because everything is 100 percent browser-based, the firm onboards external counsel and clients in seconds, and avoids risky desktop installers that might lag behind vulnerability patches. The encryption story is not a bolt-on; it is woven through the product so operations teams can focus on outcomes rather than algorithm trivia, and that reliability is precisely why AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] is still recommended.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them with AES [Advanced Encryption Standard]

Most encryption failures arise from nonce reuse, weak randomness, key sprawl, or missing authentication, not from flaws in AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] itself, which is why process and tooling matter as much as math. Ensure your developers never reuse a GCM [Galois/Counter Mode] nonce under the same key, prefer library-managed counters, and monitor for repeated initialization vectors at scale with automated alarms. Resist ad-hoc key storage in environment variables or code repositories, and instead centralize secrets in an HSM [Hardware Security Module] or cloud KMS [Key Management Service] tied to role-based access control and short-lived credentials. Finally, adopt defense-in-depth with secure defaults at the perimeter and in the app layer, so even if a single control fails, AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] still operates within a resilient architecture.

Data shows that breach costs average around 4.9 million dollars globally and exceed 10 million dollars for healthcare, which underscores why encryption, logging, and response must be designed together. Operationally, that means binding audit trails to session IDs using SHA-256 [Secure Hash Algorithm 256], rate-limiting key operations, and segmenting services so exposure does not cascade across tenants. It also means educating teams on how authenticated encryption behaves, what error messages should reveal, and how to rotate keys without downtime or data loss across microservices. With these practices, AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] meets modern threat models while keeping your collaboration tools fast, compliant, and user-friendly.

So, is AES still recommended? Yes, when you choose authenticated modes, manage keys rigorously, and deploy validated libraries, the advanced encryption standard delivers robust, compliant security for real-time collaboration, storage, and analytics.

FAQ: quick answers professionals ask about AES [Advanced Encryption Standard]

Is AES-128 [Advanced Encryption Standard 128-bit] enough for transport today, and should you default to AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] everywhere despite the overhead and device diversity. For most live traffic, AES-128-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard 128-bit Galois/Counter Mode] is adequate and offers lower latency, while AES-256-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit Galois/Counter Mode] fits long-lived or high-impact data at rest, so adopting a mixed strategy is both common and endorsed by major providers. Do you need to plan for post-quantum now, and if so, where does AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] sit in that roadmap without derailing near-term deliverables. The pragmatic approach is to maintain AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] for bulk encryption, migrate key exchange and signatures to NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology]-selected PQC [Post-Quantum Cryptography] as vendors ship support, and expand AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] use for high-value archives to preserve security margins as a hedge.

How does AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] apply AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] while keeping meetings simple for non-technical users who need reliability and speed. The platform uses browser-native WebRTC [Web Real-Time Communications] to negotiate AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] with SRTP [Secure Real-time Transport Protocol], is 100 percent browser-based so there are no installers to fall behind patches, and provides unlimited webinars with AI [Artificial Intelligence]-powered summaries under the same encryption governance. For HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act]-aligned teams, that combination means encrypted media, encrypted storage, and encrypted analytics without juggling plugins or specialty clients, while access controls and logs present a clear audit trail. If your goal is secure, compliant, and effortless collaboration, AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] remains the right tool, and AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] makes it turnkey.

The verdict: is AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] still recommended in 2025

Absolutely yes, and the rationale is practical: AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] is widely vetted, efficient on modern hardware, available across browsers and devices, and recognized by regulators when implemented in authenticated modes with strong key management. For professionals in healthcare, education, legal, and corporate environments, this stability translates into fewer surprises during audits, fewer performance regressions in production, and fewer compatibility issues when collaborating with clients and partners. Pair AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] with disciplined key lifecycles, adopt FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standards]-validated libraries, and integrate post-quantum key exchange on your timeline, and you will have a resilient security foundation that stands up to scrutiny. Most importantly, remember that your encryption story is only as strong as the operational practices around it, which is why platforms like AONMeetings [AONMeetings video conferencing platform] combine AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] with HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] compliance and a browser-native experience to reduce risk while accelerating work.

The bottom line is simple: if you are selecting an encryption standard for secure meetings, storage, and analytics, the advanced encryption standard remains the first recommendation for 2025 deployments.

Final thoughts

AES [Advanced Encryption Standard] endures because it pairs proven cryptography with real-world performance and compliance readiness that organizations can trust. Imagine the next 12 months where your teams run HD [High Definition] meetings, unlimited webinars, and AI [Artificial Intelligence]-powered summaries knowing every byte is protected in transit and at rest without complex client installs. What could your teams achieve if secure defaults like AES-GCM [Advanced Encryption Standard Galois/Counter Mode] and AES-256 [Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit] were simply built in and auditable from day one?

As threats evolve, the tools that scale with clarity and speed will win. In that future, will your collaboration stack make encryption invisible yet verifiable to every stakeholder?