Posts tagged: #hashing

A deep, developer-focused guide to how cryptographic hash functions work — properties, Merkle–Damgård vs sponge constructions, the birthday bound, and where each family fits.

MD5 vs SHA-256 vs SHA-3 compared — output size, internal construction, speed, security status, and a clear decision guide for integrity, security, and password use cases.

A deep dive into SHA-256: the SHA-2 compression function, 64 rounds, message schedule, Ch/Maj/Σ functions, padding, and why SHA-256 remains secure in 2026.

How SHA-3 works: the Keccak sponge construction, the 1600-bit state, the θ ρ π χ ι permutation, rate vs capacity, SHAKE XOFs, and how it differs from SHA-2.

How the MD5 hash algorithm works internally — Merkle–Damgård, the 64-step compression function, padding — and why MD5 is cryptographically broken yet still used for checksums.

How SHA-1 works internally — 80 rounds, message expansion, Merkle–Damgård — and how the 2017 SHAttered collision finally broke it. Why SHA-1 is deprecated.

How BLAKE2 and BLAKE3 work — the ChaCha-based compression function, keyed and tree hashing, and why BLAKE3 is faster than MD5 while staying cryptographically strong.

How CRC32 and checksums like Adler-32 work — polynomial division over GF(2), generator polynomials, burst-error detection — and why they must never be used for security.