Phil Goldstein is a former web editor of the CDW family of tech magazines and a veteran technology journalist. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and their animals: a dog named Brenna, and ...

Imagine taking a block of data and turning it into a unique string of characters. Like giving it a digital nickname that never changes (unless the data does!). That’s a hash. Whether the original data ...

An algorithm that transforms a given amount of data (the "message") into a fixed number of digits, known as the "hash," "digest" or "digital fingerprint." Hash functions are a fundamental component in ...

Researchers have produced a collision in iOS’s built-in hash function, raising new concerns about Apple’s CSAM-scanning system — but Apple says the finding does not threaten the integrity of the ...

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is ...

You can’t un-ring a bell, but you might be able to un-hash an email, depending on whom you ask. In order for marketers to safely use hashes for targeted advertising, they must stay abreast of the ...

The most popular web browsers are calling time on SHA-1, the hashing algorithm for securing data, and will soon begin blocking sites that use it. In a blog post, Microsoft stated that the algorithm ...

SHA1, one of the Internet’s most crucial cryptographic algorithms, is so weak to a newly refined attack that it may be broken by real-world hackers in the next three months, an international team of ...

COMMENTARY--I can imagine a world where the computers needed no security. Where there were no passwords, no security checks, and no firewalls. Where the computers communicated freely and shared ...