What is Hashing and How Does It Work in Cyber Security?

Hashing transforms a key or set of characters into a unique value from the original input, all for cybersecurity data validation and integrity checking. Hashing is a one-way process based on creating a value to associate with a specific data set.

Security solutions providers like IDStrong use the highest level of hashing and encryption to protect their users' information. Organizations like IDStrong understand how critical safeguarding their consumer’s credentials is.

Importance of Hashing in Cybersecurity

It is impossible to reverse this process after creating a hash value. Once applications or systems create and store the hash value, it becomes part of the data integrity validation process. During the hash value lookup process, the cybersecurity system examines the hexadecimal value to validate data protection and determine if it has compromised the data integrity. If the hash value changes, systems enable blocking functions to protect the assets.

Changing the data results in a new hash value.

An excellent example of this is when users create a new password. Once users create a new password, the system generates a corresponding new hash value. Compromising the hash values or exposing the private key can make the password vulnerable.

Like the password file, hashing for data is stored within an indexable table for efficiency and security. Those hash values are associated with a private key. Hackers attempting to manipulate data will often only succeed if they can access the private key.

Popular Hashing Algorithms

There are dozens of different hashing algorithms, and they all work a little differently. But in all of them, you enter data and the program changes it into a different form. 

Hashing algorithms are:

MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5)

MD5 is a commonly used hash value; however, this algorithm is insecure and not recommended for organizations in regulated industries like finance, high technology, and government.

SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1)

“The Secure Hash Algorithm 1 takes a 160-bit hash value and creates a 20-byte message digest.”

However, it is non-secure because of collisions; two message digests have the same hash value.

SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2)

“The Secure Hash Algorithm 2, created by NIST and the National Security Agency (NSA), creates separate digests per data value.”

 Like SHA-1, this algorithm is susceptible to collisions; however, it is highly doubtful because of the computation resources needed to execute this vulnerability.

CRC32 (Cyclic Redundancy Check)

The CRC algorithm creates a code from the data sent, which matches the code generated by the receiver to ensure accuracy.

Benefits of Hashing in Cybersecurity

Hashing delivers several valuable benefits to organizations by helping validate the integrity of their data and passwords. Here is a breakdown of various ways hashing helps:

Data Integrity and Verification

Hashing creates a unique code for data. By comparing the code, we can verify data integrity.

Password Protection

Hashing for password protection involves using specific algorithms like SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512 to calculate a unique fixed-length hash for data. By comparing this hash through re-calculation, we can verify the integrity of the password.

Efficient Data Retrieval

Hashing makes data retrieval faster by storing and accessing data more efficiently with hash values.

Digital Signatures and Certificates

Hash functions condense a message to a fixed size for signing, making it challenging for accessible signature applications to find other messages with the same hash.

Detecting Duplicate Data

Data deduplication involves algorithms that detect any matching data already saved. When the system finds duplicates, it replaces them with a reference point towards the existing data. As a result, the system only transmits the unique data for storage.

Secure Data Transmission

Secure data transmission is the process of ensuring that data sent over the internet or other networks is protected from unauthorized access, interception, and tampering. This is achieved through various encryption methods, which convert the data into a code that can only be deciphered by authorized parties. Using secure protocols like HTTPS, SSL/TLS, and VPNs further enhances the security by creating a safe channel for data exchange. 

Authentication relies on hashing. When sending a message, hashing assures no one has altered it.

File Integrity Monitoring

File Integrity Checking generates hashes using hashing mechanisms. The system then compares these hashes to the files' current hashes. If the hashes match, the file is unchanged.

Efficient Comparison and Searching

“Hash functions help computer programs store resources efficiently in memory for faster information retrieval.”

Protecting Sensitive Information

Regarding password security, websites store the hash value for added protection, preventing unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Differences Between Hashing vs. Encryption

Hashing methods and encryption algorithms have similar roles in data and password protection. However, their functionality and value are quite different. Hashing is a one-way function that data and creates a value. Any change to this value would flag a data or password breach in various security processes.

Encryption is a two-way process that protects information with a private and public key. It protects information in digital storage containers in transit or on media devices.

Data can become unencrypted for readability compared to encryption, while hashing is a one-way function only. Encryption secures data and allows readability based on approved access.

While hashing and encryption have different roles, they are commonly used to assist organizations in meeting their compliance and regulatory mandates.

• Hashing guarantees that the data remains authentic and untouched.
• Data encryption is required for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR.

“Hashing is essential to data validation but does not help organizations meet compliance regulations.”

Hashing is not encryption. However, it plays a critical role in data assurance.

Case Study: Poshmark (2019)

In August 2019, Poshmark, a clothing resale site, was the target of a data breach. Someone stole usernames, emails, social media information, and passwords.

"Passwords are stored as hash values or in an encrypted state rather than plain text. Poshmark used the bcrypt hashing algorithm to encrypt passwords, and they advised customers to change their passwords as a precaution."

Executives advised consumers to update their passwords on all digital platforms, mainly if they had used the same password on multiple sites.

Challenges and Limitations of Hashing

Hashing has pros and cons. Hash functions are one-way, so reversing them to get the original data is practically impossible. Although the output of a hash function cannot be reversed back to the input, it does not guarantee complete security.

Basic online searches allow attackers to access databases with common hashes without hashing and launch brute-force or dictionary attacks against standard strings.

Hash collisions also can lead to security risks by allowing attackers to deceive systems using the same hash value for different inputs.

Collision Attacks and Vulnerabilities

Hash collisions attack  happen when different inputs produce the same hash values. Hash functions aim to reduce collisions, but they could be more flawless. This function can be risky in applications like digital signatures, where collision resistance is essential. As computing power grows, the likelihood of hash collisions also grows, highlighting the need for more robust hash algorithms.

Threat Actors Using Brute Force Attacks

Brute-force attacks become the quickest way to crack a code. They involve trying every combination until the right one is found.

The Critical Role of Quantum Computing and Mathematical Algorithms

The success of a dedicated attack on a hash function with a specified number of steps is determined by comparing its computational complexity to that of a generic attack. In the presence of quantum computers, the computational complexity of a generic attack remains relatively stable; however, this will change. Quantum computing will also affect encryption algorithms.

In conclusion hashing is necessary for protecting and validating data.

“Its algorithms, including MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256, are critical in all cybersecurity applications' authentication and verification processes.”

Hashing's role, embedded within cryptographic roles, including blockchain, bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, demonstrated a strong future for this capability.

Organizations developing or leveraging SaaS-based applications, cloud-based data storage, or connecting to global supply chain portals must know the various hashing and encryption protection employed by these systems.

• Password protection leverages hashing to ensure integrity and validation
• Treating any change to the hash value as a data or integrity breach.
• Hashing provides exceptional performance in data look-up

Cybersecurity systems tracking stolen credentials will immediately notify the consumer of whether they are aware. Consumers wanting to stay ahead of this attack and guard their identity must subscribe to security monitoring services from firms like IDStrong.

By monitoring the dark web and other sites, IDStrong helps provide peace of mind by notifying users about compromised credentials and identifying the breached site.

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