Cryptographic Hash Functions - Lesson Summary

The key points from this module are:
Some applications of Cryptographic Hash Functions include:

Data Compression
Message Authentication Codes
Hash Pointers

The Merkle-Damgard Paradigm is a two-stage approach for designing collision-resistant hash functions.
 
Stage 1: Design a fixed-length collision-resistant compression function.
Stage 2: Design a collision-resistant hash function for arbitrary length messages.
 
Two approaches for the construction of fixed-length collision-resistant compression functions are:
 


Construction based on number-theoretic assumptions
Construction based on block ciphers