Why hash types create a hash of a different length?
A larger bit hash can provide more security because there are more possible combinations. Remember that one of the important functions of a cryptographic hashing algorithm is that is produces unique hashes. Again, if two different values or files can produce the same hash, you create what we call a collision.
Is sha256 hackable?
SHA-256 is a hashing function similar to that of SHA-1 or the MD5 algorithms. The SHA-256 algorithm generates a fixed size 256-bit (32-byte) hash. Hashing is a one way function – it cannot be decrypted back. However it can be cracked by simply brute force or comparing hashes of known strings to the hash.
Why are short hashes better than long hashes?
The shorter the digest, the greater the risk of collisions. However, your concern that the hash not be similar for two consecutive messages (whether integers or not) should be true with all hashes. Even a single bit change in the original message should produce a vastly different resulting digest.
Is there an algorithm that produces short hashes?
The Adler32 algorithm is not complex enough to compete with comparable checksums. You could use an existing hash algorithm that produces something short, like MD5 (128 bits) or SHA1 (160). Then you can shorten that further by XORing sections of the digest with other sections.
Are there hash algorithms with variable length output?
Another way I had thought about would be to divide the input up into say 128 bit chunks and then do MD5 (or some other hash) on each part and then just create one long string with the hashes of all the strings. However, I can see that a change in the input in one byte only would change 128 bits of the output.
Are there two strings with the same SHA-512 hash?
We know this by applying a very simple mathematical theorem, the pigeonhole principle. A SHA-512 hash is a 64-byte string. There are strictly more strings of 0 through 64 bytes than strings of exactly 64 bytes. Therefore there exist two distinct strings of at most 64 bytes that have the same SHA-512 hash.