Md5

Overview

Md5 is a method of computing a unique digital fingerprint of a file. If that file is altered or incomplete then it will have a different digital fingerprint, this digital fingerprint is called a md5 hash. It is used to verify that files have:

• Been downloaded completely;
• Have not been tampered with.

When a file is downloaded, an additional file with the extension .md5 may be supplied.

RADIUS authentication may also use the md5 hash for CHAP authentication

Prerequisites

• Downloaded file

• File with extension .md5, which contains the md5 sum of the downloaded file

• md5 tool such as md5sum. For various types of OS see [1]

Md5 Guide

Check the md5

For Example using the Unix command md5sum

md5sum filename

If the md5 hash and the value in the supplied .md5 file do not match then the file should be discarded.