A message digests is a fixed-size numerical value generated from input data (a message) using a hash function. It acts like a digital fingerprint of the data.
- Even a small change in the input will result in a completely different digest.
- They are commonly used in digital signatures, data integrity verification, and password storage to ensure that the data has not been altered.
1.) MD4 (Message Digest Algorithm 4):
MD4 is a cryptographic hash function developed by Ronald Rivest in 1990, designed to produce a 128-bit fixed-length hash value from an input message.
- It uses three rounds of computation to generate the hash.
- It is vulnerable to cryptographic attacks and no longer secure.
- It is originally designed for fast message authentication.
2.) MD5 (Message Digest Algorithm 5):
MD5 is a cryptographic hash function developed by Ronald Rivest in 1991 as an improvement over MD4 designed to produces a 128-bit fixed-length hash value from an input message
- It uses four rounds of computation to generate the hash.
- It is widely used in checksums and data integrity verification.
- It is vulnerable to brute-force attacks.
⚠️ MD4 and MD5 are outdated and should not be used for security-sensitive applications.
Difference Between MD4 and MD5:
