> The fact that we have AES-NI (despite the fact that AES constructions are being replaced with EC constructions in quite a few protocols, due to the difficulty

> The fact that we have AES-NI (despite the fact that AES constructions are being replaced with EC constructions in quite a few protocols, due to the difficulty of using AES in a safe way) Say what? Unless you mean something other than ‘elliptic curve’ by ‘EC,’ that doesn’t make sense to me: AES & EC are completely different kinds of thing, the former being symmetric & the latter being asymmetric. Indeed, it’s quite common to use an EC-derived secret as the key for AES-encrypted material.