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Събота, 13 Октомври 2007

Calculate MD5 hash

The MD4, MD5 and SHA-1 algorithms are secure hash functions. They take a string input, and produce a fixed size number - 128 bits for MD4 and MD5; 160 bits for SHA-1. This number is a hash of the input - a small change in the input results in a substantial change in the output. The functions are thought to be secure, in the sense that it would require an enormous amount of computing power to find a string which hashes to a chosen value. In others words, there's no way to decrypt a secure hash. The uses of secure hashes include digital signatures and challenge hash authentication. This document is a good introduction to hashes.

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