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You are here: Encyclopedia > Encyclopedia Part 5 > What is MD5 Encryption?
What is MD5 Encryption?
MD5 encryption will always be mentioned when going over the topic of cryptography. Message-Digest algorithm 5, more commonly known as MD5, is a type of cryptographic hash function that is generally used together with a 128-bit hash value. MD5 is greatly utilized in different security functions as identified in the standard Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 1321. According to the experts, MD5 hash is commonly expressed as 32-digit hexadecimal number.
It was Professor Ronald L. Rivest of MIT who created the Message-Digest algorithm 5, which is the third in his series of message digests. The other two encryptions were the MD2 and MD4 and these were quite the same with MD5 when it comes to structure. However, MD2 was fashioned for machines that run in 8-bit while the two more recent algorithms were optimized for 32-bit-type of computers.
Rivest produced such product for the purpose of using MD5 with digital signature applications. Digital signature programs involve compression of large-sized files using a safe method before it undergoes encryption using a password, which is under a public key cryptosystem.
MD5 is also used frequently in the process of assessing the authenticity of certain files. The procedure of verification occurs in such a way that a 128-bit-message-digest of any length is formed based on a primary data input. This is considered to be exclusive to just a single data and it acts as an individual fingerprint as well.
In view of the standard, MD5 may be seen as “computationally infeasible” since the message digest output emerges similar with the two messages, which were previously inputted into the MD5 algorithm. In addition, a false message might also be produced via the apprehension of a certain message digest.
However, it was discovered that, in reality, Message-Digest algorithm 5 does not have the capability to defend itself against collision. Hence, MD5 is not compatible with different applications such as the digital signatures and SSL certificates because these two are very much dependent on an item's collision resistant property.
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