Probability of hash collision

Let’s imagine we have a truly random hash function that hashes from strings to n-bit numbers. This means that there are 2n possible hash codes, and each string’s hash code is chosen uniformly at random from all of those possibilities. The birthday paradox specifically says that once you’ve seen roughly √(2k) items, there’s a 50% chance … Read more

Is it possible to decrypt SHA1

SHA1 is a cryptographic hash function, so the intention of the design was to avoid what you are trying to do. However, breaking a SHA1 hash is technically possible. You can do so by just trying to guess what was hashed. This brute-force approach is of course not efficient, but that’s pretty much the only way. So to … Read more