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Why SHA2 has a 384 bit version?


I understand that there is a 256 and 512 versions because they are all powers of 2. But where 384 came from?

I know that binary representation of 384 is 110000000 but I can't understand the logic.

It is not in the middle between 256 and 512. It is not even a logarithmic middle.

Why 384?


Solution

  • A quick look on Wikipedia finds this:

    SHA-256 and SHA-512 are novel hash functions computed with 32-bit and 64-bit words, respectively. They use different shift amounts and additive constants, but their structures are otherwise virtually identical, differing only in the number of rounds. SHA-224 and SHA-384 are simply truncated versions of the first two, computed with different initial values.

    Looking at the comparison between all the variants, it seems that SHA-384 is more resistant to length extension attacks than SHA-512 (its longer version).

    You can find a more detailed answer on Cryptography Stack Exchange: here.