A cryptographic hash function is a mathematical algorithm that takes an input (or 'message') and returns a fixed-length string of characters ...

Hashing is a one-way cryptographic function while encryption is designed to work both ways. Encryption algorithms take input and a secret key and generate a random looking output called a ciphertext.

That’s where encryption, hashing, and obfuscation come in. This article hopes to clear up some misconception in the industry as to how these technologies work and how they relate to each.

But competition entrants face another major challenge. While encryption algorithms rely on keeping a “key” secret from attackers, cryptographic hash functions can have no such secrets.

Such hash algorithms are ultimately one of the key security technologies for federal and public systems. The competition is NIST’s response to recent advances in the analysis of hash algorithms.

Because hashing algorithms works in one direction, the only way to obtain the corresponding plaintext is to guess, a process that can require large amounts of time and computational resources. The ...