As part of a forensic readiness initiative, your organization plans to record hash digests of key system files so that any unauthorized modifications can be detected later. The security architect is short-listing candidate hash algorithms. Which property must every strong cryptographic hash algorithm provide to ensure a file verified at different times will always produce the exact same digest for an unchanged file?
Deterministic output for the same input ensures that a hash algorithm will always return an identical digest whenever the exact same data is processed. This predictability is essential for integrity checking-if identical files produced different digests, routine comparisons would generate false positives. Reversibility contradicts the one-way nature of hashes, variable-length output would complicate verification and weaken collision resistance, and compatibility with legacy encryption standards is irrelevant to hash strength.
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ISC2 CISSP
Security Architecture and Engineering
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