What do the modes “ECB”, “CBC” and “CFB” mean?
ECB: Electronic Code Book (ECB) is a mode of operation for a block cipher, with the characteristic that each possible block of plaintext has a defined corresponding ciphertext value and vice versa. In other words, the same plaintext value will always result in the same ciphertext value. Electronic Code Book is used when a volume of plaintext is separated into several blocks of data, each of which is then encrypted independently of other blocks. In fact, Electronic Code Book has the ability to support a separate encryption key for each block type. CBC: Cipher block chaining (CBC) is a mode of operation for a block cipher (one in which a sequence of bits are encrypted as a single unit or block with a cipher key applied to the entire block). Cipher block chaining uses what is known as an initialization vector IV) of a certain length. One of its key characteristics is that it uses a chaining mechanism that causes the decryption of a block of ciphertext to depend on all the preceding cipher
