SHA-256 Generator

SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit) is a member of the SHA-2 family of cryptographic hash functions, designed by the NSA and published by NIST in 2001. It produces a 256-bit (32-byte) hash, represented as a 64-character hexadecimal string. SHA-256 is considered cryptographically secure: no practical collision or preimage attacks are known. It is used as the proof-of-work function in Bitcoin mining, as the basis for HMAC-SHA256 message authentication, in SSL/TLS certificate chains, and for software code signing. SHA-256 is the recommended replacement for both MD5 and SHA-1 in any application requiring data integrity verification. When in doubt about which hash algorithm to use, SHA-256 is the safe default choice.