Question 2

Procedure for installing HASH GENERATOR and comparing HASHES


STEP 1

First of all http://md5deep.sourceforge.net/ was opened and the latest version of md5deep was downloaded, which was a zipped folder. The zip folder was extracted on the H:\. (Textbook, Network Security, pg 394)

STEP 5


A new word file was created and a line, Now it's time for all good men tom come to aid of their country" was entered. (Textbook, Network Security, pg 394)


STEP 6

The word document was saved in the same folder where md5deep.exe file was located with the filename Country.docx (Textbook, Network Security, pg. 394)

STEP 9

The hash length of the file Country1.docx was calculated using md5deep from cmd. The hash length appeared to be 32 digit hexadecimal number. (Textbook, Network Security, pg. 394)

STEP 10

Again from cmd, the md5deep was used to generate the hash of the file md5deep.txt. The hash was completely different from the one generated for Country1.docx but of same length. (Textbook, Network Security, pg. 394)

STEP 11

The word document Country1.docx was re-opened and the period (.) at the end of the sentence was removed so that the sentence would say "Now it's time for all good men to come to aid of their country". (Textbook, Network Security, pg. 394)

STEP 12



The document was then saved as Country2.docx in the same folder. (Textbook, Network Security, pg 395)


STEP 13

Again md5deep was used to generate the hash of the Country2.docx. Although the two documents differ from each other by just a period (.), the hash generated were completely different although the length is same.

STEP 14







Observing the hashes created by the various hash generators, we can say:

• The hash length generated by same hash generator is same.
• The one generated by different generators varies.
• The hash length generated by md5deep is shortest of all three hashes while the one created by whirlpooldeep is the longest of all.
• The hash length created by sha1deep is bit longer than that created by md5deep but shorter than the one created by sha256deep.
• Even a slight change in the message results in a completely different hash which is the result of avalanche effect*

REFERENCES
Kornblum. J , md5deep and hashdeep (Updated 2010). download md5deep and hashdeep; retrieved on 10/02/2010; retrieved from http://md5deep.sourceforge.net/


MD5(wikipedia), (2010)retrieved on 10/02/2010; retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD5

C.Mark(2009)Installing Hash Generators and Comparing Hashes; retrieved on 10/02/2010; retrieved from Network Security Fundamentals