Which algorithm is commonly used for hashing in forensics?

The commonly used algorithms for hashing in forensics are primarily MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256, with MD5 and SHA-1 being historically significant but SHA-256 being more robust and preferred in recent practices.

SHA-256, a member of the SHA-2 family, offers a higher level of security due to its larger hash size (256 bits compared to 128 bits for MD5 and 160 bits for SHA-1). This increased hash length improves resistance to collision attacks, where two different inputs produce the same hash value, a significant vulnerability in forensic applications. Given the nature of forensic evidence, where maintaining integrity and authenticity is critical, using a more secure hashing algorithm like SHA-256 ensures that any alterations to the data can be detected more effectively.

Using SHA-256 helps forensic investigators maintain the integrity of the obtained data, providing a more trustworthy digital fingerprint of files and other data structures than MD5 or SHA-1, which are now considered less secure and potentially susceptible to attacks that could compromise their integrity in a forensic context.

In contrast, AES is primarily an encryption standard rather than a hashing algorithm, which focuses on securing data through encryption rather than creating a fixed-size hash value for validation purposes.