What is the difference between encryption and hashing in terms of data security?

1 Answers
Answered by suresh

The difference between encryption and hashing in terms of data security lies in their purpose and functionality.

Encryption is the process of converting plain text data into a scrambled format using an algorithm and a key, making it unreadable unless decrypted with the corresponding key. It is commonly used to protect sensitive information during transmission or storage, ensuring confidentiality.

On the other hand, hashing is the process of converting input data of any size into a fixed-size string of characters using a hash function. Hashing is irreversible, meaning that the original data cannot be retrieved from the hash value. It is commonly used for data integrity verification, such as ensuring that data has not been tampered with.

In summary, encryption is used to secure data by keeping it confidential, while hashing is used to verify the integrity of data by generating a unique fixed-size hash value. Both encryption and hashing play crucial roles in data security, each serving different purposes to protect information from unauthorized access or modification.

Answer for Question: What is the difference between encryption and hashing in terms of data security?