“Documents provided by Edward Snowden suggest that the NSA has heavily influenced the standard, which has been used around the world. In its statement Tuesday, NIST acknowledged that the NSA participates in creating cryptography standards ‘because of its recognized expertise’ and because NIST is required by law to consult with the spy agency. Various versions of Microsoft Windows, including those used in tablets and smartphones, contain implementations of the standard, though the NSA-influenced portion isn’t enabled by default.”
