Which of the following explains why vendors publish MD5 values when they provide software patches for their customers to download over the Internet?
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A. B. C. D.A.
When vendors provide software patches for customers to download over the internet, they also publish a cryptographic hash of the patch file, such as an MD5 value. This hash value is a mathematical representation of the file's contents, which can be calculated using a hashing algorithm like MD5. The hash value is typically published on the vendor's website or other trusted sources.
The primary purpose of publishing the MD5 value is to allow the recipient to verify the integrity of the software patch. This means that the recipient can compare the MD5 value of the downloaded patch with the published value. If the values match, it is an indication that the patch was not modified or corrupted during the download process. In other words, the recipient can be confident that the patch was downloaded correctly and has not been tampered with in any way.
Verifying the authenticity of the site used to download the patch is not the main purpose of publishing the MD5 value. However, the recipient can use the published MD5 value to confirm that the file was downloaded from a trusted source if the hash value matches the one published by the vendor.
The recipient cannot request future updates to the software using the published MD5 value. The MD5 value is simply a hash of the file's contents and does not have any capability to request updates.
Lastly, the recipient cannot successfully activate the new software patch by just having the published MD5 value. The MD5 value is used to verify the integrity of the downloaded file, but activating the patch requires installing and executing the file on the target system.
In summary, publishing the MD5 value allows the recipient to verify the integrity of the downloaded patch and ensure that it has not been modified or corrupted during the download process.