What hash should be used to ensure file integrity?

Posted by Corey Ogburn on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Corey Ogburn
Published on 2012-09-21T15:15:50Z Indexed on 2012/09/21 15:41 UTC
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Filed under:

file-transfer

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hashing

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data-integrity

It's no secret that large files offered up for download often are coupled with their MD5 or SHA-1 hash so that after you download you can verify the file's integrity. Are these still the best algorithms to use for this?

Obviously these are very popular hashes that potential downloaders would have easy access to. Ignoring that factor, what hashes have the best properties for being used for this?

For example, bcrypt would be horrible for this. It's designed to be slow. That would suck to use on your 7.4 GB dual layer OS ISO you just downloaded when a 12 letter password might take up to a second with the right parameters.

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