Hash Activity

Objective

- Shows that even files created in different systems as long as same text and program are used
the hash will be the same
- Shows that even though text is same (except for capitalization) the hash files are completely
different.

Activity

1) Open a Notepad to create a new text document

start -> all Programs -> Accessories -> Notepad

or type Notepad into the windows search bar (Windows 7)

2) Type the word test on the screen and save the file to your computer called test.txt

3) Change the word in the document to Test and save the file to your computer called test1.txt

4) Open a web browser and go to the following URL http://i-tools.org/hash

5) Select MD5, SHA1 and SHA 256 from the list (hold the CTRL key for multi select)
 6) Click the browse button and select the test.txt from where you saved it.
7) Then click the generate button from the bottom of the form.
8) The results should be as follows.

Test.txt
MD5: 098f6bcd4621d373cade4e832627b4f6
SHA1: a94a8fe5ccb19ba61c4c0873d391e987982fbbd3
SHA256: 9f86d081884c7d659a2feaa0c55ad015a3bf4f1b2b0b822cd15d6c15b0f00a08

Test1.txt
MD5: 0cbc6611f5540bd0809a388dc95a615b
SHA1: 640ab2bae07bedc4c163f679a746f7ab7fb5d1fa
SHA256: 532eaabd9574880dbf76b9b8cc00832c20a6ec113d682299550d7a6e0f345e25

NOTE: If your hash files dont match it is possible that there was a space after the word test.

Optional further testing on your own

1. Put a space after test, save file and see if the hash matches without a space.
2. Open a different word processor (Wordpad or Microsoft Word) and type test and save the file as
the default for that word processor then try hashing. Do the hashes match? Save in the word
processor as a Plain Text and see if the hashes match?