Integritätsprüfwerte

Integritätsprüfwerte, often referred to as checksums or hash values, are small, fixed-size data strings derived from a larger block of digital data. Their primary purpose is to detect accidental alterations or corruption of data during transmission or storage. The process of generating an integritätsprüfwert involves applying a specific algorithm to the original data. This algorithm is designed to produce a unique output for a given input. If even a single bit of the original data is changed, the resulting integritätsprüfwert will be significantly different.

When data is sent or stored, its corresponding integritätsprüfwert is typically transmitted or stored alongside it. Upon reception or retrieval, the integritätsprüfwert is recalculated from the received/retrieved data using the same algorithm. This newly calculated value is then compared to the original integritätsprüfwert. If the two values match, it is highly probable that the data has remained unaltered. If they do not match, it indicates that the data has been corrupted or tampered with, and a retransmission or recovery process may be necessary. Common algorithms used for generating integritätsprüfwerte include Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC), MD5, and SHA-256, each offering different levels of security and collision resistance.