-
-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 76
Cryptographic hash
Wiki ▸ 🔰 Foundations ▸ Cryptographic hash
If you've never encountered a hash in this context before, this challenge will seem incredibly complex. Searching the Internet for "hash" probably reveals more pages about cannabis than computer security at first, but adding "computer" to your searches will get you many, many, many more relevant results. Another tip for beginners, especially if you've found the regular Wikipedia article impenetrable, is to check if there is a "simple" version of the Wikipedia page. In this case, you're in luck: the Simple Wikipedia article for "Cryptographic hash function" is relatively straightforward by comparison.
In the end, a "hash" in the context of computer security is simply a value that ("cryptographically") represents some other value. The idea, in theory, is that two different original values will never be represented by the same two ultimate values after they have been "hashed," and that it is infeasible to recover the original value from the hashed value. (Watch these few minutes from "Crypto 101" for a further explanation and some pictures depicting this.) In practice, however, weaknesses in cryptographic hash functions (whether by design due to flaws in their algorithm, or by mistakes introduced through their actual implementation) sometimes result in two different values being hashed to the same value. When this happens, the hash function is said to be "cryptographically broken," because if you can hash two different values and get the same resulting value, then there is little point to the hash from a security perspective in the first place.
The NYC chapter of the Anarcho-Tech Collective provides technological and digital infrastructure support services to anti-fascist, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist organizations in New York City. See our Activities and events page for details. Read our Welcome guides to get involved.
We appreciate your support to help us do what we do. If you have the means, please donate BitCoin to 17ByVbkM6mf7bytqWRFwzjqradBkmVh4Tr
.
Found an error in these pages? Please let us know by submitting a new issue ticket.