The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) was established to replace the outdated Data Encryption Standard (DES) due to its smaller key size and slow processing. The AES cipher, specifically the Rijndael algorithm, was selected in October 2000 for its speed, security, and efficiency, and it processes data in 128-bit blocks with key sizes of 128, 192, or 256 bits. The design features include multiple rounds of transformations involving substitution, permutation, mixing, and key addition, offering strong resistance against known cryptanalysis attacks.