[lug] Interesting sum "weakness"

[Sean Reifschneider]

On Wed, Sep 13, 2000 at 11:41:00AM -0600, Atkinson, Chip wrote:
>When going through some files, I found two files that were different (using
>cmp or diff) yet had the same sum, when using the linux sum and default

As you've found out, "sum" isn't very strong.  Try "md5sum", which uses a
significantly stronger algorithm (though there are still ways to make it
generate a specific output, from what I understand).  This is why toolks
like "tripwire" use a bunch of different algorithms like CRC, MD5, SHA...

Sean
-- 
 Hell hath no fury, like a file-system scorned.  -- Sean Reifschneider, 1998
Sean Reifschneider, Inimitably Superfluous <jafo at tummy.com>
tummy.com - Linux Consulting since 1995. Qmail, KRUD, Firewalls, Python