CRC, Cyclic Redundancy Check

A CRC is often used as a checksum or hash function to detect the modification of data during storage or transfer. A CRC is rather popular because it is easily implemented into binary devices. They are also simple to mathematically analyze and work well at detecting errors found in transmission channels. Detecting the accidental modification of data is an efficiency guarantee of CRC. It applies an n-bit to a data block of arbitrary length and detects any single error burst no longer than the specified bit. Errors found in magnetic storage media and transmission channels are typically distributed in non-random cycles, making the properties of CRC more efficient than alternate schemes, such as multiple parity checks. When used on its own, CRC is not suited for protecting against the intentional modification of data. This applies to authentication programs used in data security. In this scenario, the mathematical properties of CRC are simple to compute and leaves data vulnerable.