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Message integrity is the property of a message that ensures that it has not been tampered with or altered in any way during transmission. It is important for maintaining the confidentiality and trustworthiness of the message, as any changes to the message could potentially compromise its meaning or authenticity.
There are several different techniques that can be used to ensure message integrity, including:
Message authentication codes (MACs): MACs are short messages that are created by encrypting a message digest (a unique representation of the message) using a secret key. They are attached to the message and can be used to verify the integrity of the message by decrypting the MAC using the same key and comparing the resulting message digest to a new message digest that is created from the received message.
Digital signatures: Digital signatures are created by encrypting a message digest using a private key. They can be verified by decrypting the signature using the corresponding public key and comparing the resulting message digest to a new message digest that is created from the received message.
Hash-based message authentication codes (HMACs): HMACs are similar to MACs, but they use a hash function in combination with a secret key to create the message digest. They can be used to verify the integrity of the message by creating a new message digest from the received message and comparing it to the HMAC.
Cyclic redundancy check (CRC): A CRC is a type of checksum that is created by performing a mathematical calculation on the message data. It can be used to verify the integrity of the message by recal