I commonly see SHA-256 or SHA-1 on virus tests on malware but I don’t really know what it means. what is the number mean after the – and how are all of them different?
In: 3
To simplify this further.
It’s basically math that looks at the program, runs it through a very complex equation and then spits out the answer. If the program is the same down the hexadecimal(parts that computers read, not quite binary but close), then it will have the same answer. The answer is what you use to compare to a known value to make sure the program is the same and has not been tampered with.
Like a finger print sort of.
A huge over simplification would be instead of sending a full phone number, you could ask “Hey, if you multiply the numbers of the phone number together do then divide them by your secret number do you get 3082877913?”
If yes, then it’s probably the same number.
But with computers, the numbers are huge and the math is very very complex.
It’s a one way algorithm meaning you *shouldn’t* be able to use the output numbers, to tell anything about the program or the algorithm. Meaning that the input, should not predictably change the output numbers. Though SHA-1 has been cracked for years.
For example, “X+2=Y”, and then Y=4 you can tell that X is 2. If you add 1 to X, then the output would change to 5.
Ideally, you would have no idea how to make to predictably change Y, because if you can predictably change the output, you can theoretically replace any program or picture, verified with SHA with another.
SHA-1 as said before, is relatively simple. Spits out 20(If I remember correctly) numbers. Broken a long while ago.
SHA-256 spits out 64 and has a much larger algorithm. Still secure as far as I know.
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