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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in Computers & InternetSecurity · 6 years ago

What determines a file's MD5 property?

Antivirus signatures use MD5 (and SHA1, SHA256...) file properties to determine known (and only known) malware. What actually determines a file's MD5 property, and does the MD5 property relate to actions, attributes, or another property other than actions or attributes (please specify the other)?

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  • adaviel
    Lv 7
    6 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    It's a mathematical function (a hash) of all the bytes in the file. It has nothing to do with the size, date, filetype etc. (except that if you change any bytes in a file the MD5 will change, so if you add a comment to a JPEG for instance the hash changes)

    Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function
  • Anonymous
    6 years ago

    A computer nerd decides it

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