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Unique Message Authentication Code (UMAC) is a message authentication code (MAC) that is designed to be fast and secure. It is widely used in a variety of applications, including secure communication and data integrity.
A MAC is a short message that is created by encrypting a message digest (a unique representation of the message) using a secret key. It is 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.
UMAC uses a hash function to create a unique representation of the message, and a secret key to create the MAC. It is designed to be resistant to a variety of attacks, including collision attacks and preimage attacks.
To create a UMAC, the sender of the message first creates a message digest using a hash function. The message digest is then encrypted using the secret key to create the UMAC. The UMAC is attached to the message and transmitted to the recipient.
To verify the UMAC, the recipient of the message uses the same secret key to decrypt the UMAC and compare the resulting message digest to a new message digest that is created from the received message. If the message digests match, the UMAC is considered to be valid, and the message is authenticated as having been sent by the sender. If the message digests do not match, the UMAC is considered to be invalid, and the message is considered to have been tampered with or altered during transmission.