Parameterized Hash Functions

Hash functions are used to generate a short form of an original message of any size. This short form is called a hash of a message or a message digest and is used in many cryptographic applications including message integrity verification and message authentication, in which case a keyed hash function is used. Hash function h operates on a message m of an arbitrary length. The result is a hash value h(m) which has a fixed size. A lot of recent cryptographic research has been devoted to methods of generating new hash functions which resulted for example in 64 proposals being submitted to the NIST SHA-3 competition for a new hash function in 2008 [1]. The objective while designing the HaF family of hash function was obviously the highest security while maintaining the best possible performance, however, at the same time the function should allow a flexible balance between security and performance which was achieved through parameterization.