SHA-384 Hash Generator
Free online SHA-384 Hash Generator tool. 100% local processing — your data never leaves your device.
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Usage Guide
About SHA-384
SHA-384 is a member of the SHA-2 family, producing a fixed 384-bit (96 hexadecimal characters) hash value. It is a truncated variant of SHA-512, using the same internal structure but with different initialization values and a shorter output. SHA-384 is widely used in SSL/TLS certificates, code signing, and government security standards (NSA Suite B).
Usage Steps
SHA-384 is a one-way hash function that can only compute hash values and cannot be reversed:
SHA-384 vs SHA-256 vs SHA-512
All three are members of the SHA-2 family. Here is a comparison:
FAQ
Q: When should I choose SHA-384 over SHA-256?
A: Choose SHA-384 in the following scenarios: 1) TLS certificates requiring higher security — SHA-384 is commonly paired with ECDSA P-384 keys in Suite B compliant systems. 2) Long-term data integrity — documents or archives that need to remain secure for decades. 3) Government and financial systems — regulations may require algorithms with higher collision resistance. For most web applications, SHA-256 remains the practical choice due to shorter output and broader compatibility.
Q: Is SHA-384 just a truncated SHA-512?
A: Technically yes, but with an important difference: SHA-384 uses different initialization values (IV) than SHA-512. Both algorithms apply the same round function with 80 rounds of 64-bit operations. After computing, SHA-384 discards the last 128 bits of the 512-bit internal state, producing the 384-bit output. The different IV prevents trivially extending the SHA-384 output to a full SHA-512 hash, which provides length-extension attack resistance similar to SHA-512/t variants.
Q: Does SHA-384 have any known vulnerabilities?
A: No. As of 2025, SHA-384 has no known practical attacks. The best theoretical attack on SHA-384 reduces the preimage complexity from 2^384 to 2^385 (a marginal improvement over brute force) and applies only to a reduced-round variant. Collision resistance at the 192-bit level remains intact. SHA-384 is considered safe for all current applications, including post-quantum scenarios where 192-bit classical security translates to roughly 96-bit quantum security.
Q: Can I use SHA-384 for password hashing?
A: No. Like all SHA-2 variants, SHA-384 is designed for speed, which makes it unsuitable for password storage. Modern GPUs can compute billions of SHA-384 hashes per second, making brute-force attacks fast even with salting. For password storage, use: Argon2id (OWASP recommended), bcrypt (cost ≥ 12), or PBKDF2-SHA384 (≥ 600k iterations). These algorithms have configurable work factors to resist brute-force attacks.
Q: How does SHA-384 perform compared to SHA-256?
A: On 64-bit systems, SHA-384 is typically faster than SHA-256 per byte of output, because both SHA-384 and SHA-512 operate on 64-bit words while SHA-256 uses 32-bit words. Benchmark example on modern hardware: SHA-256 ~500 MB/s, SHA-512/SHA-384 ~700 MB/s. On 32-bit systems or constrained environments, SHA-256 is faster. For most server-side applications, the performance difference is negligible.
Use Cases
Recommended: High-Security TLS Certificates
SHA-384 is the standard hash algorithm for TLS certificates using ECDSA P-384 keys, which are required by NSA Suite B and commonly used in government, financial, and defense applications. Let's Encrypt and major CAs support SHA-384 certificates. When creating a certificate signing request (CSR) with an EC P-384 key, most tools default to SHA-384 as the signature hash.
- ✅ SHA-384 + ECDSA P-384 (Suite B compliant)
- ✅ SHA-256 + ECDSA P-256 (standard web)
- ✅ SHA-512 (maximum security)
- ❌ Avoid SHA-1 (deprecated)
Recommended: Long-Term Document Integrity
For documents, archives, or data that must remain verifiable for 20+ years, SHA-384 provides a larger security margin against advances in computing. While SHA-256 is currently secure, future quantum computers with Grover's algorithm would reduce its effective security to 128 bits. SHA-384 would retain 192-bit classical and ~96-bit quantum security, offering a meaningful buffer.
- ✅ SHA-384 or SHA-512 (long-term archives)
- ✅ SHA-256 (current documents, 10-year horizon)
- ❌ Avoid SHA-1 and MD5 (already broken)
Recommended: HMAC and Signature Schemes
HMAC-SHA384 is used in high-security API authentication, JWT tokens with HS384 algorithm, and AWS Signature Version 4 with SHA-256 as baseline (some services offer SHA-384). HMAC-SHA384 provides 192-bit security, suitable for applications where the HMAC key lifetime exceeds several years.
- ✅ HMAC-SHA384 (high-security APIs)
- ✅ HMAC-SHA256 (standard APIs)
- ✅ Ed25519 / ECDSA P-384 (asymmetric signing)
- ❌ Avoid HMAC-MD5 or HMAC-SHA1
Not Recommended: General-Purpose Web Applications
For typical web application hashing needs (file checksums, cache keys, deduplication), SHA-256 is the better choice due to shorter output, broader library support, and nearly identical security for practical purposes. SHA-384's extra 128 bits provide no meaningful benefit when the attacker model doesn't include long-term adversaries with quantum capabilities.
Choosing Between SHA-2 Variants
- SHA-256: Default choice for most applications — best balance of security, performance, and compatibility.
- SHA-384: Use when compliance (Suite B, FIPS) or long-term security margins require stronger than SHA-256.
- SHA-512: Maximum security, best performance on 64-bit systems for large data, longest output.
- Never use SHA-1 or MD5 for any security-sensitive purpose.