02 How does the Hash-Search work?

Since hashes represent a one-way encryption, it is not possible to infer the original input directly from a hash. However, if the formatting is known, especially for the coordinates, then a “brute force attack” can be performed. Here, the known hash and as much information as possible is given for calculation. In geocaching, for example, the coordinate format and the already known numbers.

The hash to be solved is entered in the first field and the corresponding hash function is selected for search parameters. The given information e.g. of the coordinate is entered in the corresponding format in the field Search mask. For the individual variables A-F the possible values are then given and possibly still further limited. After clicking on Calculate, it can take a long time, depending on the smartphone, until the result is available, because in the example shown, all 999,999 possibilities are tried through until the same hash is reached.

If the search mask does not match the hash, e.g. due to spaces, the calculation will unfortunately be unsuccessful.