^_^
(Click to copy)
MD2 is a cryptographic hash function developed by Ronald Rivest in 1989. It is designed to create fixed-length 128-bit check values (hashes) from arbitrary data. Despite its historical importance, MD2 is considered obsolete and unsafe to use because it is susceptible to various types of attacks, including collisions, which allow attackers to generate different inputs to the same hash.
The MD2 algorithm divides the input data into 128-bit blocks and uses 18 rounds of processing, including performing bitwise operations and padding the data to the desired length. However, despite some innovative ideas, such as using tables to optimize calculations, MD2 has not stood the test of time with the advent of more secure algorithms such as SHA-1 and SHA-256.
Today, MD2 is mainly used for educational purposes and for analyzing legacy systems, while more modern and robust cryptographic standards are recommended for modern applications.
Despite MD2's shortcomings, its architecture influenced the further development of hash functions. Developers studied various aspects of the algorithm to identify vulnerabilities and optimize subsequent standards. This contributed to the emergence of more reliable cryptographic methods that meet modern security requirements.
The use of MD2 in practical applications has become marginal, and many systems are gradually abandoning its use. As a result, the algorithm has become part of the history of cryptography, demonstrating important lessons about the need to carefully evaluate the security of hash functions. Analyzing older hash algorithms such as MD2 helps researchers and security professionals better understand the evolution of threats and develop more secure solutions.