Understanding hashing - Cybersecurity Foundations: Computer Forensics Video Tutorial | LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda.com (2024)

FAQs

What is hashing in cyber forensics? ›

- [Instructor] Hashing plays a vital role in computer forensics. It ensures that a data copy you make remains identical to its source. Hashing refers to the process of transforming an input, which is usually a file into an output, which is a unique string associated with that file.

Computer forensics can be a stressful field, as you often need to find information quickly for a criminal investigation and criminals can be highly skilled at technology. On the other hand, a computer forensics career is in a top growing field that has many diverse employment opportunities.

Hashing is a one-way process that turns data into a fixed-length hash value using a hash function. The primary goal of hashing is to ensure data integrity and validate the original data. Hash functions are intended to be fast and efficient, generating unique hash values for each input.

An offset in forensic economics carries the same meaning as a reduction in damages. Forensic economists are regularly called upon to project pecuniary damages to a plaintiff that result from either a tort, a contract violation or some other violation of existing law.

Understanding Three Types of Hashing. In the realm of data security and integrity, understanding the intricacies of Three Types of hashing - MD5, SHA-2 , and CRC32 - is paramount. Each algorithm serves a distinct purpose in safeguarding digital assets and ensuring the authenticity of information.

For example, when a user creates an account on a website, they choose a password. This password is put through a hashing algorithm, such as SHA-256, to generate a hashed version of the password. The original password is discarded, and only the hash of the password is stored in the database.

Cybersecurity is a highly technical career field, but that doesn't mean you need to be a math whiz to succeed. You can succeed with the math basics taught in computer science.

Most computer forensics investigators hold bachelor's degree in computer forensics, which take four years of full-time study. Though many positions in this field require several years of professional experience, earning an advanced degree may reduce the number of years you need to qualify for some jobs.

Computer forensics is an exponentially growing field, with higher opportunities for career development. The cyber forensics investigator can land a job in both government and mid- to large-sized corporations and private forensics laboratories.

While not directly addressing confidentiality, hash functions indirectly contribute to it. In the realm of password security, for example, websites do not store your actual password; instead, they store the hash of your password.

What is the goal of hashing? ›

Hashing is the practice of transforming a given key or string of characters into another value for the purpose of security. Although the terms “hashing” and “encryption” may be used interchangeably, hashing is always used for the purposes of one-way encryption, and hashed values are very difficult to decode.

Hashing is a one-way mathematical function that turns data into a string of nondescript text that cannot be reversed or decoded. In the context of cybersecurity, hashing is a way to keep sensitive information and data — including passwords, messages, and documents — secure.

From a technical standpoint, the main goal of computer forensics is to identify, collect, preserve, and analyze data in a way that preserves the integrity of the evidence collected so it can be used effectively in a legal case. What are some typical aspects of a computer forensics investigation?

FTK imager computes the acquisition hash of the imaged data (acquisition hash) when the acquisition is finished - if the format is E01 this hash is stored at the end of the file, otherwise you can find it in the txt file saved at the same location as the image file.

Hashing is the process of using a mathematical function to convert input data into a fixed-length output. Businesses use hashing functions to ensure that the data stored on servers and cloud storage systems remain unreadable even if malicious hackers gain access to the data.

Just like law enforcement uses DNA to authenticate physical evidence at a crime scene, eDiscovery and forensic professionals use hash values to authenticate electronic evidence, which can be vitally important if there are disputes regarding the authenticity of the evidence in your case!

Encryption is a two-way function where information is scrambled in such a way that it can be unscrambled later. Hashing is a one-way function where data is mapped to a fixed-length value. Hashing is primarily used for authentication.

Hashing is defined as the process of assigning a numeric value to an alphanumeric string by first converting it into another numeric value and storing it in an indexed table to make data retrieval faster and/or masking the data for encryption, performed by a hash function.