From: Marc Branchaud <marcnarc@xiplink.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 21:57:43 GMT
Subject: Re: The SHA256 of "xy\n" (ASCII, no CRLF) contains 1337, ACBAD in za, and I am 1aa
Message-ID: <e54a3865-b75b-4c28-b3a3-62fcb02bbfb5@xiplink.com>
In-Reply-To: <20260123210643.GA2728629@coredump.intra.peff.net>

Deep Crypto is obviously far more insidious than anyone expected.  How 
could we have not realized that our SHA IDs were so subversive?

I mean, ab6edf73?  Really?  Who ever thought that was even remotely OK?

We need to immediately replace our SHA IDs with sequences of 
semantically-neutral symbols.  I suggest we use non-hex integers to 
represent the value of each byte (hexadecimal letters being the work of 
the devil -- I mean, "hex" is right there in the name!), and use 
something neutral like □ (U25A1) as a separator (but only by default; 
this symbol must be configurable).  For example:

	12deadbeef45 --> 12□222□173□190□239□45

(I realize that numbers themselves can carry deeply harmful baggage, but 
I'm hoping the integers from 1 to 255 aren't too offensive.  OK, maybe 
tolerating 111 is asking too much...)

I only hope we can spare future generations from our modern deprivations.

		M.


On 2026-01-23 14:06, Jeff King wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 09:16:46PM +0100, Klaus Sembritzki wrote:
> 
>> $ # My initials (ks): 1aa
>> $ echo ks | sha256sum
>> $ 1aa44e718d5bc9b7ff2003dbbb6f154e16636d5c2128ffce4751af5124b65337
>>
>> $ # 50566750337
>> $ echo thinking | sha256sum
>> $ 50566750337beb9e98e553fd9196d10576f9eb0cbc6b66e2586b9d73af4f352f
> 
> Oh man, I've got deadbeef!
> 
>    $ echo jk35252822 | sha256sum
>    33f1a74529870456c56ad97c59cfed6bdeadbeef9b9bc3f4ff49bb203e36f96b
> 
> What could it all mean?
> 
> -Peff
>