Tools / Cyber Security Interview Questions
What is Hashing in Cyber Security?
Hashing takes an input of any size and runs it through an algorithm to produce a fixed-length output, called a hash or digest, that uniquely represents that input.
A good hash function is one-way, meaning you can't reverse the digest back into the original data, and even a tiny change in the input produces a completely different hash.
hash("password123") -> "ef92b778bafe771e89245b89ecbc08a4" hash("password124") -> "b1946ac92492d2347c6235b4d2611184"
- Storing password hashes instead of plaintext passwords
- Verifying file integrity after downloads
- Detecting tampering in digital signatures
Common algorithms include SHA-256 and SHA-3; older algorithms like MD5 and SHA-1 are considered broken for security purposes because collisions can be found.
What is a key property of a secure hash function?
Which algorithm is now considered broken for security purposes?
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