Which data privacy technique is non-reversible, often used to protect data by transforming values into a fixed representation?

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Multiple Choice

Which data privacy technique is non-reversible, often used to protect data by transforming values into a fixed representation?

Hashing is a one-way function that converts input data into a fixed-length digest. Once data are hashed, you can’t practically recover the original values, which makes it non-reversible. The fixed-size output is a key trait: no matter how long the input, the hash has a consistent length, enabling efficient comparisons and integrity checks without exposing the original data. This contrasts with encryption, which hides data but can be reversed with the correct key, and with masking or anonymization, which don’t inherently guarantee a fixed-length, non-reversible representation. So the non-reversible, fixed representation transformation is characteristic of hashing.

Hashing is a one-way function that converts input data into a fixed-length digest. Once data are hashed, you can’t practically recover the original values, which makes it non-reversible. The fixed-size output is a key trait: no matter how long the input, the hash has a consistent length, enabling efficient comparisons and integrity checks without exposing the original data. This contrasts with encryption, which hides data but can be reversed with the correct key, and with masking or anonymization, which don’t inherently guarantee a fixed-length, non-reversible representation. So the non-reversible, fixed representation transformation is characteristic of hashing.

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