Facebook Instagram Twitter Vimeo Youtube
Sign in
  • Home
  • About
  • Team
  • Buy now!
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
Logo
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Sign in / Join
  • Contact Us
  • Our Team
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Vimeo
Youtube
Logo
  • Home
  • News
    • News

      New Cybercrime Technique “Ghost-Tapping” Targets Mobile Wallets by Paige Henley

      26 August 2025
      News

      CISA Issues 10 Security Advisories for Industrial Control Systems by Husain Parvez

      26 August 2025
      News

      ClickFix Attack Surges as Hackers Trick Users Into Running Malware by Husain Parvez

      26 August 2025
      News

      Healthplex Pays $2 Million to Settle NYDFS Cybersecurity Violations After Phishing Attack by Husain Parvez

      26 August 2025
      News

      CIRO Shuts Down Systems After Cybersecurity Threat: Personal Data Exposed by Husain Parvez

      26 August 2025
  • Data Modelling & AI
    • AllBig dataBusiness AnalyticsData ScienceData Structure & AlgorithmDatabasesVector DatabaseDeep LearningEthical HackingGenerative AIMachine Learning
      Big data

      Stop Your AI Assistant from Writing Outdated Code with Milvus SDK Code Helper

      26 August 2025
      Big data

      A Practical Guide for Choosing the Right Vector Database for Your AI Applications

      26 August 2025
      Big data

      Why I’m Against Claude Code’s Grep-Only Retrieval? It Just Burns Too Many Tokens

      26 August 2025
      Big data

      Hands-On with VDBBench: Benchmarking Vector Databases for POCs That Match Production

      16 August 2025
    • Big data
    • Business Analytics
    • Databases
    • Data Structure & Algorithm
    • Data Science
    • Deep Learning
    • Ethical Hacking
    • Generative AI
    • Machine Learning
    • Security & Testing
  • Mobile
    • AllAndroidIOS
      Android

      Google Photos is getting a fun new sticker feature, but it’s not on Android

      26 August 2025
      Android

      I tried popular AI editing apps on Android — only one earned a spot on my phone

      26 August 2025
      Android

      Google is testing a new Discover feed feature for all you multilinguists out there

      26 August 2025
      Android

      Nothing seemingly caught passing off stock photos as Phone 3 camera samples

      26 August 2025
    • Android
    • IOS
  • Languages
    • AllAjaxAngularDynamic ProgrammingGolangJavaJavascriptPhpPythonReactVue
      Languages

      Working with Titles and Heading – Python docx Module

      25 June 2025
      Languages

      Creating a Receipt Calculator using Python

      25 June 2025
      Languages

      One Liner for Python if-elif-else Statements

      25 June 2025
      Languages

      Add Years to datetime Object in Python

      25 June 2025
    • Java
    • Python
  • Guest Blogs
  • Discussion
  • Our Team
HomeData Modelling & AIBig dataWhat are Checksums?
Big dataGuest Blogs

What are Checksums?

Algomaster
By Algomaster
28 June 2025
0
4
Share
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
WhatsApp

    What are Checksums?

    #13 System Design – Checksums

    Ashish Pratap Singh's avatar

    Ashish Pratap Singh
    May 26, 2024

    Imagine you’re sending an important letter to your friend through the mail.

    Before sealing the envelope, you take a photo of the letter.

    When your friend receives it, they take a photo of the letter and send it back to you.

    If the two photos match, you know the letter hasn’t been tampered with or damaged during transit.

    If they don’t match, it’s a clear sign something went wrong along the way—perhaps the letter was altered, or part of it was lost or damaged.

    In the digital world, checksums serve a similar purpose as those photos.

    Just like taking photos help us answer the question: “Has the letter been altered or damaged“, a checksum answers the question: “Has this data been altered unintentionally or maliciously since it was created, stored, or transmitted?”

    In this article, we’ll explore checksums, how they work, different types, and their real world applications.


    If you’re finding this newsletter valuable and want to deepen your learning, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

    As a paid subscriber, you’ll receive an exclusive deep-dive article every week, access to a structured System Design Resource (100+ topics and interview questions), and other premium perks.

    Unlock Full Access


    What is a Checksum?

    A checksum is a unique fingerprint attached to the data before it’s transmitted. When the data arrives at the recipient’s end, the fingerprint is recalculated to ensure it matches the original one.

    If the checksum of a piece of data matches the expected value, you can be confident that the data hasn’t been modified or damaged.

    Checksums are calculated by performing a mathematical operation on the data, such as adding up all the bytes or running it through a cryptographic hash function.

    Checksum - Wikipedia

    Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checksum

    Share

    How Does a Checksum Work?

    The process of using a checksum for error detection is straightforward:

    1. Calculation: Before sending or storing data, the original data is processed through a specific algorithm to produce a checksum value.

    2. Transmission/Storage: The checksum is appended to the data and sent over the network or saved in storage.

    3. Verification: Upon retrieval or reception, the checksum is recalculated using the same algorithm on the received data. This newly calculated checksum is compared with the original checksum.

    4. Error Detection: If the two checksum values match, the data is considered intact. If they do not match, it indicates that the data has been altered or corrupted during transmission or storage.

    Types of Checksums

    There are several types of checksums, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are a few of the most common:

    • Parity Bit: A parity bit is a single bit that is added to a group of bits to make the total number of 1s either even (even parity) or odd (odd parity). While it can detect single bit errors, it fails if an even number of bits are flipped.

    • CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check): It works by treating the data as a large binary number and dividing it by a predetermined divisor. The remainder of this division becomes the checksum. CRCs are designed to detect common errors caused by noise in transmission channels.

    • Cryptographic Hash Functions: These are one-way functions that generate a fixed-size hash value from the data. Popular examples include MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256.

    Real-World Applications of Checksums

    • File downloads: Checksums verify that downloaded files are complete and uncorrupted.

    • Data backups: Checksums ensure that backed-up data is accurate and trustworthy.

    • Network communication: Checksums guarantee that data packets are transmitted correctly, preventing errors and corruption.

    To summarize, checksums serve as a vital line of defense, safeguarding against errors and corruption.

    From file downloads and data storage to network transmissions and software installations, checksums work tirelessly to detect errors, prevent corruption, and give us confidence in the accuracy of our digital information.


    Thank you for reading!

    If you found it valuable, hit a like ❤️ and consider subscribing for more such content every week.

    If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment.

    This post is public so feel free to share it.

    Share


    P.S. If you’re finding this newsletter helpful and want to get even more value, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

    As a paid subscriber, you’ll receive an exclusive deep dive every week, access to a comprehensive system design learning resource , and other premium perks.

    Get full access to AlgoMaster

    There are group discounts, gift options, and referral bonuses available.


    Checkout my Youtube channel for more in-depth content.

    Follow me on LinkedIn, X and Medium to stay updated.

    Checkout my GitHub repositories for free interview preparation resources.

    I hope you have a lovely day!

    See you soon,
    Ashish

    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Pinterest
    WhatsApp
      Previous article
      Why is Redis so Fast and Efficient?
      Next article
      Samsung can’t raise foldable prices again — not if it wants to win
      Algomaster
      Algomasterhttps://blog.algomaster.io
      RELATED ARTICLES
      Guest Blogs

      Interview With Rony Cohen – Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at FloLIVE by Shauli Zacks

      26 August 2025
      Guest Blogs

      Why CloudThrill Believes the Future of AI Lies in Open Source and Flexibility by Petar Vojinovic

      26 August 2025
      Guest Blogs

      Interview With Matias Madou – CTO and Co-Founder at Secure Code Warrior by Shauli Zacks

      26 August 2025

      LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply

      Log in to leave a comment

      Most Popular

      Google Photos is getting a fun new sticker feature, but it’s not on Android

      26 August 2025

      I tried popular AI editing apps on Android — only one earned a spot on my phone

      26 August 2025

      Google is testing a new Discover feed feature for all you multilinguists out there

      26 August 2025

      Nothing seemingly caught passing off stock photos as Phone 3 camera samples

      26 August 2025
      Load more
      Algomaster
      Algomaster
      202 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      https://blog.algomaster.io
      Calisto Chipfumbu
      Calisto Chipfumbu
      6613 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      http://cchipfumbu@gmail.com
      Dominic
      Dominic
      32236 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      http://wardslaus.com
      Milvus
      Milvus
      80 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      https://milvus.io/
      Nango Kala
      Nango Kala
      6609 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      neverop
      neverop
      0 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      https://geeksforgeeks.org
      Nicole Veronica
      Nicole Veronica
      11779 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      Nokonwaba Nkukhwana
      Nokonwaba Nkukhwana
      11828 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      Safety Detectives
      Safety Detectives
      2579 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      https://www.safetydetectives.com/
      Shaida Kate Naidoo
      Shaida Kate Naidoo
      6719 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      Ted Musemwa
      Ted Musemwa
      7002 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      Thapelo Manthata
      Thapelo Manthata
      6678 POSTS0 COMMENTS
      Umr Jansen
      Umr Jansen
      6690 POSTS0 COMMENTS

      EDITOR PICKS

      Google Photos is getting a fun new sticker feature, but it’s not on Android

      26 August 2025

      I tried popular AI editing apps on Android — only one earned a spot on my phone

      26 August 2025

      Google is testing a new Discover feed feature for all you multilinguists out there

      26 August 2025

      POPULAR POSTS

      Google Photos is getting a fun new sticker feature, but it’s not on Android

      26 August 2025

      I tried popular AI editing apps on Android — only one earned a spot on my phone

      26 August 2025

      Google is testing a new Discover feed feature for all you multilinguists out there

      26 August 2025

      POPULAR CATEGORY

      • Languages45985
      • Data Modelling & AI17565
      • Java15156
      • Android13857
      • Mobile12983
      • Javascript12713
      • Guest Blogs12661
      • Data Structure & Algorithm10077
      Logo

      ABOUT US

      We provide you with the latest breaking news and videos straight from the technology industry.

      Contact us: hello@geeksforgeeks.org

      FOLLOW US

      Blogger
      Facebook
      Flickr
      Instagram
      VKontakte

      © NeverOpen 2022

      • Home
      • News
      • Data Modelling & AI
      • Mobile
      • Languages
      • Guest Blogs
      • Discussion
      • Our Team