The hashing is a one-way method making it almost impossible to decrypt. This in turn means that SHA256 is ideal for challenge hash authentication, finger-printing, password validation, digital signatures, uniquely identifying files, and as checksums to detect accidental data corruption.

SHA-256 refers to a cryptographic hash function that belongs to the SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2) family. It generates a fixed-size 256-bit (32-byte) hash value from input data of arbitrary length. SHA-256 is widely used in cryptography and data integrity verification. It is known for its security and resistance to collision attacks, making it suitable for applications such as digital signatures, data authentication, and password hashing.

SHA-256 is used all over the internet by many organizations, technologies, and protocols to keep data secure, tamper-proof, and verifiable.