SHA-256
RecommendedSHA-256 is part of the SHA-2 family designed by the NSA. It produces a 256-bit hash and is the most widely used secure hash function today, underpinning TLS/SSL certificates, Bitcoin mining, and digital signatures.
What is SHA-256?
SHA-256 is a recommended cryptographic hash algorithm that produces a 256 bits (64 hex characters) output. SHA-256 is part of the SHA-2 family designed by the NSA. It produces a 256-bit hash and is the most widely used secure hash function today, underpinning TLS/SSL certificates, Bitcoin mining, and digital signatures. It is classified as fast in performance and commonly used for tls/ssl certificate signing and digital signatures and code signing.
Output Length
256 bits (64 hex characters)
Speed
Fast
Security
Recommended
Performance
Fast — processes hundreds of MB/s. Efficient for general-purpose hashing but not slow enough for password hashing alone.
Use Cases
- → TLS/SSL certificate signing
- → Digital signatures and code signing
- → Blockchain and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin uses double SHA-256)
- → Data integrity verification
- → HMAC construction for message authentication
Example Hash
Input:
Hello, World!
SHA-256 Output:
dffd6021bb2bd5b0af676290809ec3a53191dd81c7f70a4b28688a362182986f
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