SHA512 Hash

SHA-512 is a member of the SHA-2 family, producing a 512-bit (64-byte) digest. It processes data in 1024-bit blocks and uses 80 rounds of mixing with 64-bit words and constants derived from the first 80 prime roots. The larger state and word size make SHA-512 particularly efficient on 64-bit architectures, offering the highest level of collision and preimage resistance among SHA-2 functions.

Like SHA-256, SHA-512 pads the input with a ‘1’ bit, zero bits, and a 128-bit length field. Eight 64-bit registers maintain the internal state, initialized to the first eight prime square roots. The message schedule expands 16 input words to 80 words using σ0 and σ1 functions on 64-bit data, then each round mixes schedule words with Σ functions, Ch/Maj, and constants.

No practical collision or preimage attacks exist against full SHA-512. Its 512-bit digest makes brute-forcing or birthday attacks computationally infeasible for the foreseeable future. SHA-512 is used in high-security applications: SSL/TLS certificate fingerprints, blockchain protocols, and digital signature schemes requiring maximal security.

On 64-bit CPUs, SHA-512 often outperforms SHA-256 per byte due to native 64-bit operations. Optimized implementations leverage SIMD and SHA extensions for throughput exceeding 500 MB/s in native code. JavaScript environments can use the Web Crypto API for hardware-accelerated SHA-512 in supported browsers.

SHA-512 is ideal for long-term data integrity, large-scale file verification, certificate authorities, and any context where the highest collision resistance is required. It’s also used in HMAC-SHA512 for message authentication and in KDFs like PBKDF2-SHA512.

`hello` → `9b71d224bd62f3785d96d46ad3ea3d73319b6...` (128 hex chars)`