Subtle Storm

Jul 13, 2026 · Information Security

Common Encryption Algorithms and Their Practical Characteristics

This article reviews the most widely used encryption, signature, and hash algorithms—including symmetric ciphers (DES, 3DES, AES, IDEA, SM4, RC4, ChaCha20), asymmetric schemes (RSA, ECC, ECDH, DSA/ECDSA, SM2), hash functions (MD5, SHA‑1, SHA‑2, SHA‑3, SM3) and password‑hashing primitives (bcrypt, scrypt, Argon2) — summarizing their key sizes, security status, typical use cases and compliance requirements.