When is CRC more appropriate to use than MD5/SHA1?

hash embedded crc
Gili picture Gili · Jun 15, 2009 · Viewed 92.1k times · Source

When is it appropriate to use CRC for error detection versus more modern hashing functions such as MD5 or SHA1? Is the former easier to implement on embedded hardware?

Answer

defines picture defines · Jun 15, 2009

CRC works fine for detecting random errors in data that might occur, for example, from network interference, line noise, distortion, etc.

CRC is computationally much less complex than MD5 or SHA1. Using a hash function like MD5 is probably overkill for random error detection. However, using CRC for any kind of security check would be much less secure than a more complex hashing function such as MD5.

And yes, CRC is much easier to implement on embedded hardware, you can even get different packaged solutions for this on IC.

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