What does the Data Encryption Standard (DES) aim to protect?

The Data Encryption Standard (DES) was specifically designed to protect data from unauthorized access, ensuring that sensitive information is unintelligible to anyone without the proper decryption key. By encrypting data, DES aims to safeguard it from unauthorized viewing or access by malicious parties.

In this context, while unclassified computer data might be vulnerable, DES was primarily created to secure classified data and other sensitive information against interception and unauthorized reading. This encryption standard creates a level of confidentiality that helps protect data integrity and privacy during storage and transmission.

The other options, while they mention important concepts related to data protection, do not capture the primary objective of DES as effectively. For instance, DES does more than just aim to protect client's business information or Personal Identification Numbers; it is fundamentally about preventing unauthorized access to all types of sensitive data.