RC6

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What Does RC6 Mean?

RC6 is a fast block cipher. It was developed based on RC5 and does its job quicker than RC5 due to more registers. RC6 uses integer multiplication in its algorithmic computation. RC6 is also rotation-dependent on every word bit, as opposed to the insignificant bits with RC5.

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Techopedia Explains RC6

RC6 is a derivative of RC5 and is a block cipher designed for RSA Security. RC6 uses four working block size registers in its algorithmic computations, whereas RC5 uses only two. Thus, RC6 is faster. RC6 was designed as part of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) competition, where it was a finalist. It is a propriety algorithm patented by RSA Security.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.