In simplest terms, SHA256 is a hashing algorithm. Hashing is essentially changing the bits so that Message A translates easily to Message B but not the other way around. You can liken hashing to encryption in the sense that they are both aimed at securing communication between two parties, but hashing is NOT encryption. If you encrypt something, you can always get back the original message as long as you know the algorithm used. If you hash something, you will never get back the original message without cycling through a subset of all possibilities.
As for the actual algorithm used by SHA256, that's more of a technical explanation, which I'm assuming you've already read about. If not, Wikipedia lists the full algorithm, if I remember correctly.
As for the actual algorithm used by SHA256, that's more of a technical explanation, which I'm assuming you've already read about. If not, Wikipedia lists the full algorithm, if I remember correctly.
Thank you for the quick explanation
I was actually more interested in the compression algorithm that SHA256 uses in its Merkle-Damgard construct.
From all I can tell, it just uses a bunch of Rotation operations. I'm not very good with math considering that my real age ( not the one on my profile ) is...different.
I've been trying to "distill" it into simpler terms but help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!