MD5 hashing a method of encryption that takes a string of characters regardless of length and produces a 128bit fingerprint. MD5 hashing is commonly used in databases such as Mysql to store sensitive data. However, MD5 hashing is not trusted now days there is techniques to identify the hash. For example software known as Rainbow tables have been proven to decrypt the hash.(Rouse, n.d.)

The important thing to note is that MD5 hashing is not encryption as the results are permanent. Once a string of text has been converted into a hash it cannot be un-hashed back to its original state. For that reason alone hashing is not considered encryption.

Known attacks on relating to MD5

Back in 2016 a Video streaming service company in China known as YouKu was attacked and had 92 Million users personal information exposed along with each ones MD5 hashes.(Mooney, 2020)

Bibliography

Mooney, G. (2020, June 24). What is MD5? Retrieved from ipswitch: https://blog.ipswitch.com/what-is-md5

Rouse, M. (n.d.). MD5 . Retrieved from techtarge: https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/MD5