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Hashing is an algorithm that transforms an original variable length data into a much shorter fixed-length key that represents the original string. The algorithm is a mathematical function that shrinks data to a fixed size.
The Message Digest algorithm (MD5) was originally designed as a cryptographic hash function. It produces a one-way 128-bit hash value. However, it was found to suffer from several vulnerabilities and is commonly used as a checksum to verify data against corruption.
SHA stands for Secure Hashing Algorithm. There are two different versions of that algorithm. They differ in how the resulting hash is created from the original data and in the bit-length of the signature. SHA-2 is the successor to SHA-1, as it is an overall improvement.
Hash-based message authentication codes are a tool for calculating message authentication codes (HMACs) using a cryptographic hash function and a secret key. HMAC combines public keys, private keys, and a hash. It can be used to verify both the integrity and authenticity of a message.
A strong password is one that is not easily guessable or not easily brute-forced. Long and complex passwords with numbers, letters, upper and lowercase, and special characters make for more secure ones. Make passwords long and a minimum of 14 characters and safeguard them. Users should be encouraged to use passphrases over using a single word and a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols.
Email harvesting is an automatic acquisition of lists of email addresses for use in bulk email or spamming. Spammers use software programs that spider through web pages looking for email addresses. Email address harvesting is done using special software known as "harvesting bots", "harvesting robots", or "harvesters" which crawl web pages and capture every email address they find. Disallow bots is one way to prevent spam bots from picking up your email on your website.
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