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Hashing
Hashing is a cryptographic process that converts input data of any size into a fixed-size string of characters, typically a hexadecimal number. This output, called a hash value or digest, is unique to the input data and serves as a digital fingerprint. Unlike encryption, hashing is a one-way process, meaning it's computationally infeasible to reverse the hash to obtain the original data. In cybersecurity, hashing is widely used for password storage, data integrity verification, and digital signatures. Common hashing algorithms include MD5 (now considered insecure), SHA-256, and bcrypt. Hashing helps detect unauthorized changes to data, as even a small alteration in the input produces a significantly different hash value. However, the strength of a hash function is crucial, as weak algorithms can be vulnerable to collision attacks, where different inputs produce the same hash, potentially compromising security measures relying on the uniqueness of hash values.
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