Site home page
(news and notices)

Get alerts when Linktionary is updated

Book updates and addendums

Get info about the Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunicatons, 3rd edition (2001)

Download the electronic version of the Encyclopedia of Networking, 2nd edition (1996). It's free!

Contribute to this site

Electronic licensing info

 

 

Digest Algorithm

Related Entries    Web Links    New/Updated Information

  
Search Linktionary (powered by FreeFind)

Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.

There are cryptographic processes that can produce unique "fingerprints" of messages that prove to the receiving party that the messages have not been altered. Some part of the message, such as the header text, is run through a one-way hashing function, which produces an output that serves as a unique identification for the message. The output is called a message digest. When a person receives such a message, they can run a similar hash function to create a message digest that should exactly match the digest sent with the message. If the digests do not match, the message should be considered invalid. This indicates message alteration, which changes the results of the hash and produces a different message digest.




Copyright (c) 2001 Tom Sheldon and Big Sur Multimedia.
All rights reserved under Pan American and International copyright conventions.