You are the Network Administrator for a small business.
You need a widely used, but highly secure hashing algorithm.
Which of the following should you choose?
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A. B. C. D.B.
The correct answer to this question is B. SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm).
A hashing algorithm is a mathematical function that converts data of any size into a fixed-sized string of text, which is known as a hash. Hash functions are commonly used in information security to create digital signatures, password storage, and data integrity checks.
Among the options listed, only SHA is a widely used hashing algorithm that is specifically designed to provide strong security. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a symmetric encryption algorithm that is used for protecting data at rest or in transit, but it is not a hashing algorithm. EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is a communication protocol that is used for authentication, and CRC32 (Cyclic Redundancy Check) is a checksum algorithm that is used for error detection, but neither of them is designed for hashing.
There are several versions of SHA, including SHA-1, SHA-2, and SHA-3. SHA-1 is no longer considered secure and is deprecated. SHA-2 is currently the most widely used and recommended hash function, with various hash sizes ranging from 224 bits to 512 bits. SHA-3 is a newer hash function that was designed to address some of the weaknesses in SHA-2.
Therefore, if the Network Administrator needs a widely used, highly secure hashing algorithm, the best option is to choose one of the SHA-2 variants depending on the specific requirements of the application.