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Security Beginner

What is Hashing?

A one-way function that converts input data into a fixed-size string of characters, used for data integrity and password storage.

Hash functions produce a unique, fixed-length digest from any input. Unlike encryption, hashing is irreversible — you cannot recover the original data from the hash. Any change in input produces a completely different hash.

Uses include password storage (bcrypt, Argon2), file integrity verification (SHA-256), digital signatures, and data deduplication. Never use MD5 or SHA-1 for security — they are considered broken.

Related Terms

Supply Chain Attack
A cyberattack that targets less-secure elements in the software supply chain to compromise downstream users and organizations.
Cryptographic Key Management
The practices and procedures for generating, storing, distributing, rotating, and revoking encryption keys securely.
Security Hardening
The process of reducing a system's attack surface by disabling unnecessary services, applying patches, and configuring security controls.
Firewall Rules
Configuration entries that define which network traffic is allowed or blocked based on source, destination, port, and protocol.
JWT (JSON Web Token)
A compact, self-contained token format used for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object.
Session Hijacking
An attack where an adversary takes over a legitimate user session by stealing or predicting the session identifier.
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