Interactive Hashing Lab

Activity Guide

Step 1 of 6

Introduction to Hashing

Welcome to the manual hashing lab. As a digital forensics investigator, you often need to verify the integrity of files without relying on automated tools.

Task:

Switch to the Windows tab and list the files in the directory to see what we are working with.

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3693]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Lab Environment Ready. Type specific commands to complete the guide.

PS C:\Users\Student\Desktop\Evidence>

Hashing Command Reference

Common syntax for manual integrity verification.

Windows Commands

CertUtil

CMD / Batch

certutil -hashfile <file> <algorithm>

Example:
certutil -hashfile evidence.txt SHA256

Get-FileHash

PowerShell

Get-FileHash <file> -Algorithm <algo>

Example:
Get-FileHash malware.bin -Algorithm MD5

Linux / macOS Commands

Sum Utilities

Bash / Zsh

md5sum <filename> sha1sum <filename> sha256sum <filename>

Hashing Strings

Pipeline

echo "<text>" | sha256sum

Example:
echo "Hello World" | sha256sum