Finally, in responding to your peers’ posts, assess your peers’ recommendations and discuss how these functions relate to providing a secure means of communicating. BUT respond according to the post if need be. 1. The massive growth of access to information is on the rise each and every day making the handling of information and data one of the major priorities in our information technology world. To secure our information, a sender uses a hash key to encrypt the data being sent, whiles the receiver on the waiting end decrypts the data using the same hash key. This means that hashing serves as an authentication tool for both sender and receiver of the data. However, the recent attacks on cryptography continue to threaten the security of our information. Random hashing has proved to be useful in recent times although it does not stop an attacker from attacking it makes it very difficult and complex and almost impossible. Randomizing in hash ensures that a hash function is picked at random or in other words, uses a random salt value in the random process before implementing the underlying hash function. (Lemire D., 2012) Hashing comes in handy in securing our communication. It gives us the assurance that data has not been tampered with by using the hash key to verify the integrity of the data. Also, as it assures as that data has not being tempered with it also alerts us if data has been tampered with this way we can ignore and flag such data. (Ashfield D., 2013) Hash is an essential component in cryptographic, for the last two decades it is being used for cryptography in securing electronic communication on an internet network. 2. Hashing is a great tool when using encryption. This allows the person that is sending the data and the person that would receive the data to be able to know that the message hasn’t been altered. If the hashing uses common stings of number, like 123456789, an outsider can break this hash very quickly. But if the hash is [email protected] $36*&(oP, well, this would make the message more difficult for interception. This goes a long with the same concept of using passwords that don’t follow a dictionary, and are random, the more random the better. If I were to send a piece of data out, I would want random hashing to take place. Above, where I mentioned that using 123456789, wouldn’t be a great hash, because it can easily be intercepted and deciphered (there are people that have equipment that can do just this). I would want something along the lines as [email protected] ^TR#@dTh!$, because in order to decipher my message you would have to know the exact characters and line, meaning that my data would stay safe, and as long as it matches up on the other side, we (the parties involved) would know that my message wasn’t altered. There are even Salting schemes that can be added at the end, with random characters, just to throw off unwanted eyes. 3. Randomness and random numbers are e ...