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You're reading from  CompTIA Security+: SY0-601 Certification Guide - Second Edition

Product typeBook
Published inDec 2020
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781800564244
Edition2nd Edition
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Ian Neil
Ian Neil
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Ian Neil

Ian Neil is one of the world's top trainers of Security+. He is able to break down information into manageable chunks so that people with no background knowledge can gain the skills required to become certified. He has recently worked for the US Army in Europe and designed a Security+ course that catered to people from all backgrounds (not just IT professionals), with an extremely successful pass rate. He is an MCT, MCSE, A+, Network+, Security+, CASP, and RESILIA practitioner that has worked with high-end training providers over the past 23 years and was one of the first technical trainers to train Microsoft internal staff when they opened their Bucharest Office in 2006.
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Hashing and Data Integrity

Hashing is where the data inside a document is hashed using an algorithm, such as a Secure Hash Algorithm Version 1 (SHA1), SHA2, SHA3, and MD5. This turns the data inside the file into a long text string known as a hash value; this is also known as a message digest.

While you are hashing the same data, if you copy a file and therefore have two files containing the same data, then hash them with the same hashing algorithm. It will always produce the same hash value. Let's look at the following examples on hashing and data integrity:

  • Verifying Integrity: During forensic analysis, a scientist takes a copy of the data before investigation. To ensure that they have not tampered with it during the investigation, they will hash the data before starting and then compare the hash to the data when finished. If the hash matches, then they know that the integrity of the data is intact.
  • One-Way Function: For the exam, hashing is a one-way...
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CompTIA Security+: SY0-601 Certification Guide - Second Edition
Published in: Dec 2020Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781800564244

Author (1)

author image
Ian Neil

Ian Neil is one of the world's top trainers of Security+. He is able to break down information into manageable chunks so that people with no background knowledge can gain the skills required to become certified. He has recently worked for the US Army in Europe and designed a Security+ course that catered to people from all backgrounds (not just IT professionals), with an extremely successful pass rate. He is an MCT, MCSE, A+, Network+, Security+, CASP, and RESILIA practitioner that has worked with high-end training providers over the past 23 years and was one of the first technical trainers to train Microsoft internal staff when they opened their Bucharest Office in 2006.
Read more about Ian Neil