In cryptography, MAGENTA is a symmetric key block cipher developed by Michael Jacobson Jr. and Klaus Huber for Deutsche Telekom. The name MAGENTA is an acronym for Multifunctional Algorithm for General-purpose Encryption and Network Telecommunication Applications. (The color magenta is also part of the corporate identity of Deutsche Telekom.) The cipher was submitted to the Advanced Encryption Standard process, but did not advance beyond the first round; cryptographic weaknesses were discovered and it was found to be one of the slower ciphers submitted [1]

Magenta, a bright pinkish purple color, is a color evoked by light having less power in green wavelengths than in blue/violet and red wavelengths (complements of magenta have wavelength 500–530 nm). In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light. It is an extra-spectral color, meaning it cannot be generated by a single wavelength of light, being a mixture of red and blue or violet wavelengths. The name magenta comes from the dye magenta, commonly called fuchsine, discovered shortly after the 1859 Battle of Magenta near Magenta, Italy.