File Integrity Verification: SHA-256 Checksums
How hash-based integrity checks work, how to generate and verify checksums, and real-world supply chain security use cases.
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Tags: security, hashing, integrity
File Integrity Verification: SHA-256 Checksums Explained When you download software from the internet, you are trusting that the file you received is identical to the file the author published. But what if the download server was compromised? What if your connection was intercepted? SHA-256 checksums exist precisely to answer this question. They are a short fingerprint of a file's contents — if even one bit changes, the checksum changes completely and you know something went wrong. What Does a Checksum Verify? A cryptographic hash function takes an input of any size and produces a fixed-length output (the hash or checksum). The same input always produces the same output; any change to the input produces a radically different output. For a 500 MB Linux ISO: The correct file produces: A…
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