The main difference between MAC and HMAC is that MAC is a tag or a piece of information that helps to authenticate a message, while HMAC is a special type of MAC with a cryptographic hash function and a secret cryptographic key.
Cryptography is the process of sending data securely from the source to the destination. It helps to avoid unauthorized parties from accessing confidential data. Cryptography involves two main functionalities as encryption and decryption. Encryption refers to converting the message to an unrecognizable format at the sender’s end. On the other hand, decryption refers to converting the unrecognizable message to a recognizable message. Furthermore, MAC and HMAC are two codes used in cryptography to pass the messages.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is MAC -Definition, Functionality 2. What is HMAC -Definition, Functionality 3. Difference Between MAC and HMAC -Comparison of key differences
Key Terms
Cryptography, HMAC, MAC
What is MAC
MAC stands for Message Authentication Code. It is a small piece of information that helps to authenticate a message. Moreover, it ensures that the message came from the stated sender. The MAC value protects both a message’s data integrity as well as its authenticity. It helps to figure out any changes to the message content.
MAC consists of three algorithms. First, there is a key generation algorithm that selects a key from the keyspace uniformly at random. There is also a signing algorithm that returns a tag given the key and message. Finally, there is a verifying algorithm that helps to authenticate a message that is given the key and the tag. Generally, MAC functions are similar to cryptographic hash functions. These functions have various security requirements.
What is HMAC
HMAC stands for hash-based message authentication code. It is a specific type of MAC. It contains cryptographic hash functions and a secret cryptographic key. HMAC is capable of verifying data integrity and authentication of a message at the same time. Generally, the cryptographic strength of HMAC depends on the cryptographic strength of the underlying hash function, size of the hash output and the size and quality of the key.
HMAC uses two passes of has computation. The secret key helps to find the inner and outer keys. In other words, the first pass of the algorithm generates an internal hash derived from the message and the inner key. Furthermore, the second pass generates the final HMAC code obtained from the inner hash result and the outer key. Overall, the algorithm is capable of providing immunity against length extension attacks.
Difference Between MAC and HMAC
Definition
MAC is a short piece of information used to authenticate a message. In contrast, HMAC is a specific type of MAC that involves a cryptographic hash function and a secret cryptographic key.
Long form
While MAC stands for Message Authentication Code, HMAC stands for Hash based Message Authentication Code.
Conclusion
In brief, HMAC is a type of MAC. The main difference between MAC and HMAC is that MAC is a tag or a piece of information that helps to authenticate a message while HMAC is a special type of MAC with a cryptographic hash function and a secret cryptographic key.
References:
1.“Message Authentication Code.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 July 2019, Available here. 2.“HMAC.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 June 2019, Available here.
In cryptography, a message authentication code (MAC), sometimes known as an authentication tag, is a short piece of information used for authenticating and integrity-checking a message. In other words, to confirm that the message came from the stated sender (its authenticity) and has not been changed (its integrity).
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Message_authentication_code
algorithm is the Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC). HMAC is a specific construction for MACs that is based on a cryptographic hash function. It provides enhanced security compared to traditional MAC algorithms by incorporating additional steps in the computation of the tag.
The main difference between MAC and hash MAC is the dependence on the key. In HMAC, the hash function and a key must be applied to the plain text. The plain text message will be subject to the hash algorithm. But first, we must compute S bits, append them to plain text, and then apply the hash function.
HMAC utilizes a cryptographic hash function, such as MD5, SHA-1, or SHA-256, along with a secret key, to produce the authentication code. CMAC, on the other hand, uses a block cipher, such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), in combination with a secret key.
A Message Digest is simply a hash of a message. It's the output of a cryptographic hash function applied to input data, which is referred to as a message. A Message Authentication Code (MAC) is a piece of information that proves the integrity of a message and cannot be counterfeited easily.
HMAC is important because it has the ability to add a layer of security to using MAC, guarding against things like the length extension attack. HMAC allows you to combine a secret key with the message. It then makes use of a hash algorithm on the message, generating a hash.
HMAC is more secure than MAC because the key and the message are hashed in separate steps: HMAC(key, msg) = H(mod1(key) || H(mod2(key) || msg)) The client first hashes the data with a private key and sends it as a part of the request to the server. The server then makes its own HMAC.
A Mac is a specific brand of personal computer produced by Apple. While Macs can run most operating systems, Mac OS is the standard. On the other hand, the term PC usually refers to a computer operating on a Windows OS. However, a PC may also use a Unix operating system, such as Linux or FreeBSD.
HMAC creates a message digest and is used for integrity; CBC-MAC is used to encrypt blocks of data for confidentiality. b. HMAC uses a symmetric key and a hashing algorithm; CBC-MAC uses the first block for the checksum.
HMAC makes it possible to confirm the data integrity and authenticity of a message. This is especially useful in scenarios like digital signatures, certificate authorities, and transport layer security and secure sockets layer (TLS and SSL) protocols.
Message Authentication Code (MAC), also referred to as a tag, is used to authenticate the origin and nature of a message. MACs use authentication cryptography to verify the legitimacy of data sent through a network or transferred from one person to another.
If you store sensitive information on your Mac—for example, if you carry your company's financial data on your Mac laptop—you can use FileVault to protect your files and keep someone from accessing or copying sensitive data.
HMAC stands for Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication. It's a message authentication code obtained by running a cryptographic hash function (like MD5, SHA1, and SHA256) over the data (to be authenticated) and a shared secret key. HMAC is specified in RFC 2104. HMACs are almost similar to digital signatures.
Mac computers built on the Apple M1 chip take data protection even further by using dedicated hardware to protect your login password and enabling file-level encryption, which developers can take advantage of — just as on iPhone.
An HMAC key is a type of credential associated with an account, typically a service account. You use an HMAC key to create signatures using the HMAC-SHA256 signing algorithm. The signatures you create are then included in requests to the Cloud Storage XML API.
HMAC creates a message digest and is used for integrity; CBC-MAC is used to encrypt blocks of data for confidentiality. b. HMAC uses a symmetric key and a hashing algorithm; CBC-MAC uses the first block for the checksum.
"Could you use an MAC as an HMAC? That is, does a MAC satisfy the same properties that an HMAC satisfies?" No, only HMAC is a HMAC. And of course any common MAC can be used in the same role as HMAC, as HMAC is just a MAC after all.
HMAC is actually a specific type of MAC that employs a cryptographic hash function along with a secret key. Both MAC and HMAC provide integrity by ensuring that a message has not been altered, and authenticity by verifying that the message is from a legitimate source.
The cryptographic hash function may be MD-5, SHA-1, or SHA-256. Digital signatures are nearly similar to HMACs i.e they both employ a hash function and a shared key. The difference lies in the keys i.e HMACs use symmetric key(same copy) while Signatures use asymmetric (two different keys).
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