ES1040 core implements Data Encryption Standard (DES) cipher algorithms in hardware. DES is a block cipher, works on blocks of 64 bits of data using 64 bit long keys. However, every 8th key bit is an odd parity bit and is ignored in the DES algorithm. Hence the effective key size is 56 bits. ES1040 core also supports Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (Triple-DES). Triple-DES is DES done three times with three different keys.