
Whenever a digest method is called the MessageDigest object is reset to its initialized state.
GENERATE CHECKSUM UPDATE
Once the update is complete one of the digest method is called to complete the hash computation. So, It’s better to read data in parts and update MessageDigest.Although we can use the digest(byte input) which creates a final update on the MessageDigest object by reading the whole file at once in case the file is too big/large we might not have enough memory to read the entire file as a byte array and this could result in : Java Heap Space. Then we update this object till we read the complete file.We first start with instantiating the MessageDigest Object by passing any valid hashing algorithm string.Message digests are encrypted one-way hash functions that take data of arbitrary size and produce a hash value of fixed length. Java provides an inbuilt functionality of generating these hash functions through MessageDigest Class present in the security package of Java.

This is highly unlikely to happen by mere accident, but this strategy may be used by an attacker to mask a malicious file as a valid file. They’ve found two different files, that produce the same MD5 or SHA-1 hash, but are different. “Collisions” with the MD5 and SHA-1 functions have been discovered by security researchers. These cryptographic hash functions, though, aren’t flawless.Even small changes in the file will produce a different checksum.These algorithms use a cryptographic hash function that takes an input and generates a fixed-length alphanumeric string regardless of the size of the file. Typical algorithms used for this include MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-512. To produce a checksum, you run a program that puts that file through an algorithm. For example, the MD5 checksum value of a file is totally different from its SHA-256 checksum value. You must ensure that you use the same algorithm that has been used to generate the checksum when checking checksums.

MD5 and SHA are the two most widely used checksum algorithms. ISRO CS Syllabus for Scientist/Engineer Exam.ISRO CS Original Papers and Official Keys.GATE CS Original Papers and Official Keys.
