Developer tutorials: JSON, JWT, Base64 and more.
MD5 explained — what it is, its properties, why it is not encryption, where it is still useful, and why it is broken for security and passwords.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 11 min read
How file integrity checks work — comparing hashes to verify a download is intact, how to check on each OS, and accidental vs deliberate tampering.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 11 min read
Why MD5 is no longer secure — the broken collision resistance, how the attacks work, real incidents like Flame, and what to use instead.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 11 min read
Checksums explained — what they are, how they detect errors, CRC vs cryptographic checksums, checksum vs hash, and their limits.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 11 min read
SHA-256 explained — what a cryptographic hash is, its key properties, why it is not encryption, where it is used, and the password caveat.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 11 min read
How SHA-256 works step by step — padding, 512-bit blocks, the message schedule, 64 compression rounds and why its properties emerge.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 11 min read
SHA-256 vs MD5 compared — output size, security, collision resistance and speed. Why MD5 is broken and where each is still appropriate.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 10 min read
Password hashing best practices — why fast hashes like SHA-256 fail, and how to use slow, salted functions like Argon2, bcrypt and scrypt correctly.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 12 min read
A survey of modern cryptographic hashes — SHA-2, SHA-3, BLAKE, password hashes, HMAC and deprecated MD5/SHA-1 — and how to choose the right one.
AZ Utils Editorial · · 11 min read
