The term “Military-grade encryption” is generally touted by VPN services and sometimes, you would find its mention on bank portals as well. While military-grade encryption does sound secure, not many are aware of its technicality. So in this article, we bring you a detailed explainer on what exactly is military-grade encryption. Is it something that the military uses for secure communication or just a marketing gimmick? Well, to find all the answers, let’s go through the article point by point.

Here, we have enlisted all the segments that we have covered in this article. You can click on the link below to easily move to the relevant section. Be assured, we have broken the concept of encryption in lucid terms so anyone can understand what it’s all about.

  • The Basics
  • So What is Military-Grade Encryption?
  • Is Military-grade Encryption a Marketing Gimmick?

The Basics

Before we understand what exactly is military-grade encryption, let’s first go through the basics of encryption. In simple terms, Encryption means scrambling of information in such a way that it looks like gibberish. When you enter your credit card details on a website, it encrypts the data. That means, it converts the plaintext into something called ciphertext through advanced cryptographic algorithms. It makes the data unreadable and uncrackable. This way, your data remains safe on the internet while transmitting from one server to another.

So What is Military-Grade Encryption?

Simply put, Military-grade encryption means AES-256 encryption. AES stands for Advanced Encryption Standard that has a 256-bit key size. There are many types of encryption such as SHA-256, RSA-2048, AES-256, etc. AES-256 is one of the popular encryption methods because of its fast and reliable cryptographic method. Up until now, no computer or human has been able to crack an AES-128-bit key, let alone an AES-256 encryption key.

To conclude, when a VPN company says it offers Military-grade encryption then it means you are getting AES 256-bit encryption which is simply unbreakable. Keep in mind, even 128-bit and 192-bit encryption are considered military-grade, but companies generally offer 256-bit to tighten your security even further.

Many cybersecurity experts believe that military-grade encryption is a marketing gimmick and it’s milked by companies by associating online security with the military’s high standard. In my opinion, it’s true to some extent. As we saw in the above section, even AES 128-bit encryption is secure enough and it’s simply unbreakable. Not to mention, AES 256-bit encryption is not something new and exclusive as companies generally tout.