peterjockisch Practical Application of Cryptographic Checksums

1.1 Introduction

Computer files can be manipulated in many ways un­no­ticed. Cryptographic checksums, hash values, serve to protect your data: By forming an electronic fingerprint of a file, an always constant numerical value is created. If this value deviates at a later point in time, there is dam­age or manipulation. With a single mouse click, the in­teg­rity of a file can be checked at any time.

NOTE:

1、保证data integrity，分支被篡改

2、"electronic fingerprint" 非常形象的比喻，下面对此进行了专门的说明

Humans are complex creatures. In order to identify them quickly and easily, fingerprints are often created. Com­put­er files can be identified according to the same prin­ci­ple: by generating an “electronic fingerprint”, the so-called cryptographic checksum, an always constant num­ber.