5.2. Explain basic hashing concepts and map various algorithms to appropriate applications.
Hashing is a type of cryptography that isn't an encryption algorithm. Instead, hashing is used to produce a unique identifier—known as a hash value, hash, checksum, message authentication code (MAC), fingerprint, or message digest—of data. The data could be a file, a hard drive, a network traffic packet, or an e-mail message. The hash value is used to detect when changes have been made to a resource. In other words, hashing is used to detect violations of data integrity.
For example, a hash value computed now may be compared with a hash value created last week. If the two values are the same, the data hasn't been changed. If the two values are different, ...
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