What is the role of hashing in digital forensics?

Digital Forensics Questions



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What is the role of hashing in digital forensics?

The role of hashing in digital forensics is to ensure data integrity and authenticity. Hashing involves using a mathematical algorithm to generate a unique fixed-size string of characters, known as a hash value or checksum, from a given set of data. This hash value acts as a digital fingerprint for the data, allowing forensic investigators to verify its integrity and detect any changes or tampering. Hashing is commonly used in digital forensics to validate the integrity of evidence, compare files for similarity, and identify known malicious files or artifacts.