node.js hash string?

Question

I have a string that I want to hash. What\'s the easiest way to generate the hash in node.js?

The hash is for versioning, not security.

Answer 1

Considering the thoughts from http://www.thoughtcrime.org/blog/the-cryptographic-doom-principle/ (in short: FIRST encrypt, THEN authenticate. Afterwards FIRST verify, THEN decrypt) I have implemented the following solution in node.js:

function encrypt(text,password){
  var cipher = crypto.createCipher(algorithm,password)
  var crypted = cipher.update(text,'utf8','hex')
  crypted += cipher.final('hex');
  return crypted;
}

function decrypt(text,password){
  var decipher = crypto.createDecipher(algorithm,password)
  var dec = decipher.update(text,'hex','utf8')
  dec += decipher.final('utf8');
  return dec;
}

function hashText(text){
    var hash = crypto.createHash('md5').update(text).digest("hex");
    //console.log(hash); 
    return hash;
}

function encryptThenAuthenticate(plainText,pw)
{
    var encryptedText = encrypt(plainText,pw);
    var hash = hashText(encryptedText);
    return encryptedText+"$"+hash;
}
function VerifyThenDecrypt(encryptedAndAuthenticatedText,pw)
{
    var encryptedAndHashArray = encryptedAndAuthenticatedText.split("$");
    var encrypted = encryptedAndHashArray[0];
    var hash = encryptedAndHashArray[1];
    var hash2Compare = hashText(encrypted);
    if (hash === hash2Compare)
    {
        return decrypt(encrypted,pw); 
    }
}

It can be tested with:

var doom = encryptThenAuthenticate("The encrypted text",user.cryptoPassword);
console.log(VerifyThenDecrypt(doom,user.cryptoPassword));

Hope this helps :-)