An apparatus is disclosed for operating a symmetric cipher engine (SCE) in cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode. The apparatus includes a crypto operation hardware including the SCE and an XOR stage, an apparatus for storing a chaining value including a state register of the SCE, an input latch supplying the crypto operation hardware with data, and an output latch. The data may be reordered for decipher operation. Furthermore, a method is disclosed for operating a SCE in CBC mode, wherein the method involves a crypto operation hardware that includes the SCE and an XOR stage supplied with data. The method also may include using a state register of the SCE to apply a chaining value. The method further may comprise reordering data supplied to the crypto operation hardware for decipher operation.