Hash Functions
A hash functionis a mathematical function that converts an input (or “message”) into a fixed-size string of bytes, typically a hexadecimal number, in a way that is deterministic (same input always produces the same output) and ideally unique for each unique input.
Hash functions are widely used in data integrity checks, password storage, digital signatures and efficient data retrieval in hash tables.
Types
There are a lot of hash functions. Here are the most popular ones you will encounter most often in a wide variety of cases.
| Name | Byte Length | Hashcat Mode | Example (hex) |
|---|---|---|---|
| MD5 | 32 | 0 | 1bc29b36f623ba82aaf6724fd3b16718 |
| SHA1 | 40 | 100 | 415ab40ae9b7cc4e66d6769cb2c08106e8293b48 |
| SHA256 | 64 | 1400 | 5d5b09f6dcb2d53a5fffc60c4ac0d55fabdf556069d6631545f42aa6e3500f2e |
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| Hashcat | High-performance password and hash cracking tool (GPU-accelerated) |
| John The Ripper | Versatile password cracking tool for hashes and encrypted data |
Online
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| CyberChef | Web-based tool for encoding, decoding, and data analysis |
| Crackstation | Online rainbow-table-based password hash cracking service |
| MD5Hashing.net | Online MD5 hash lookup and cracking database |
| DCode Hash Identifier | Identifies likely hash types from input strings |
Wordlists
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| rockyou.txt | Famous password wordlist used for brute-force and cracking |
| SecLists | Comprehensive collection of security wordlists and payloads |
Resources
Last updated on