Description

• This tool generates the MD5 hash of a given text.

Facts

• MD5, which stands for the Message Digest algorithm 5, is the most commonly used version of the MD hash algorithms.
• MD5 is a cryptographic hash function which takes an input text and generates a 128-bit hash value which is 32 characters in length.
• MD5 is often used as a checksum to verify data integrity against data corruption or alteration.
• The MD5 hash value of an empty string or empty file is d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e.
• When storing passwords, many systems will not store the actual password but rather will combine the password with a salt, which is randomly generated text, and then create the MD5 hash of the combined text. The MD5 hash and the salt are then stored in a database. When a user attempts to sign in with the password, the system will combine the given password with the salt and compare it with the MD5 hash stored in the database to determine if the password matches. This technique allows systems to never store the actual password but rather the hash of the password. Many modern systems though have moved away from using the MD5 hash of the password to a strong hashing algorthm.