one-way hash function
<algorithm> (Or "message digest function") A one-way function which takes
a variable-length message and produces a fixed-length hash. Given the hash it is
computationally infeasible to find a message with that hash; in fact one can't
determine any usable information about a message with that hash, not even a
single bit. For some one-way hash functions it's also computationally impossible
to determine two messages which produce the same hash.
A one-way hash function can be private or public, just like an encryption
function. MD5, SHA and Snefru are examples of public one-way hash functions.
A public one-way hash function can be used to speed up a public-key digital
signature system. Rather than sign a long message, which can take a long time,
compute the one-way hash of the message, and sign the hash.
sci.crypt FAQ.
(2001-05-10)
Nearby terms:
One-Time Password « One Time Programmable Read-Only
Memory « one-way function « one-way hash function
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