Tagged Questions

1
vote
2answers
71 views

Many consecutive hashes to slow down brute force attack?

I've heard that hash algorithms like bcrypt are more secure because they take longer to complete, and therefore take much longer to prute force, without a noticable ...
5
votes
3answers
294 views

“Weaknesses” in SHA-256d?

According to this answer, "SHA-256d" was proposed in one of the Ferguson/Schneier books like so: SHA-256d(x) = SHA-256(SHA-256(x)) Apparently, the motivation for ...
6
votes
1answer
191 views

Using SHA-256 with different initial hash value

FIPS 180-3 defines the initial hash value for SHA-256 as the first 32 bits of the fractional parts of the square roots of the first 8 primes 2..19. What would be the risks of using a different value ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views

“SHA-256” vs “any 256 bits of SHA-512”, which is more secure?

In terms of security strength, Is there any difference in using the SHA-256 algorithm vs using any random 256 bits of the output of the SHA-512 algorithm? Similarly, what is the security difference ...
4
votes
2answers
552 views

128 bit hash with least chance of collision

I'm building a storage system for JSON documents where they are looked up on a 128 bit key. These JSON documents have a timestamp within them, but apart from that are user-entered data. These JSON ...
4
votes
4answers
264 views

Are derived hashes weakening the root?

Given a root hash root = H(plaintext) and two (or more) derived hashes h1 = H(salt1 + root) h2 = H(salt2 + root) would the ...
1
vote
1answer
161 views

Can one group the SHA-256 outputs depending on partial inputs?

Is it possible to predict a hash key based on half key? Let's have some example: I have 100000000 hash results, and they are generated by either ...
4
votes
2answers
917 views

SHA-256 “midstate”

Recently I've been trying to implement some Bitcoin-related code, and I've stumbled upon a weird concept, a SHA-256 "midstate". Some explanation is given here. The general concept is that Bitcoin ...
10
votes
3answers
1k views

At the current time, is SHA256 the de facto standard for strong cryptographic hashes?

At the current time, is SHA256 the de facto standard for strong cryptographic hashes? From what I am seeing of more sites utilizing it, I would suppose the answer to this is yes, but would like to ...
9
votes
7answers
1k views

Is calculating a hash code for a large file in parallel less secure than doing it sequentially?

I would like to improve the performance of hashing large files, say for example in the tens of gigabytes in size. Normally, you sequentially hash the bytes of the files using a hash function (say, ...
7
votes
1answer
361 views

Should I use the first or last bits from a sha-256 hash?

I have the need for a hexadecimal token that is smaller than the normal length of the hexadecimal representation of a sha-256 hash. Should I take the first bits or the last bits? Which of them ...