Hash Chain

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What Does Hash Chain Mean?

A hash chain is commonly defined as the repeated application of a cryptographic hash function to a given data asset. This type of hash cryptography can be extremely useful in some specific security setups. By providing a successive chain, hash chains make it harder for a snooping hacker to hijack a data asset through applying a single input.

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Techopedia Explains Hash Chain

The idea of a hash chain is that a user supplies an individual input on the first interaction or session, and then adds authenticating data on the next session. Over a set of sessions, those individual hash inputs create a “hash chain” that authenticates a single user input in a more profound way.

As an example, hash chain processes can be similar to a blockchain ledger approach for bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, in that blockchain and other similar systems authenticate an input with previous hash key lists. However, other kinds of hash chains may not have the same specific features and details built into blockchain, which is becoming a gold standard for ledger transparency in the world of global finance.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.