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Cryptographic hash functions play a critical role in computer security providing a one-way transformation of sensitive data. Many information-security applications benefit from using hash functions, specifically digital signatures, message authentication codes, and other forms of authentication. The calculation of hash functions such as SHA512, SHA256, MD5 etc is a potential playground for Custom Compute. This is where the ISA flexibility enabled by RISC-V and empowered by the Zk extension, as well as the ability to merge inherently sequential bit manipulations in custom instructions help to improve the performance.

SHA512 hash function

SHA512 belongs to the ‘SHA-2’ family designed by the United States National Security Agency. Their compliance to FIPS standards have been validated through the CMVP program, jointly run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Communications Security Establishment.

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