<i>Well, EBC, or electronic codeblock, is a block cipher that operates</i><p>block cipher _mode_<p><i>Because I chose AES in 256-bit mode</i><p>with 256-bit _key_<p><i>AES is operating on 256-bit blocks at a time</i><p>It operates on 128-bit blocks.<p>etc, etc.<p>Wikipedia page on modes of operation is a better and more correct introduction: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_modes_of_operation" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_modes_of_operatio...</a>