14. Cryptographic Services

The modules described in this chapter implement various algorithms of a cryptographic nature. They are available at the discretion of the installation. Here’s an overview:

• 14.1. hashlib — Secure hashes and message digests
• 14.2. hmac — Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication
• 14.3. md5 — MD5 message digest algorithm
• 14.4. sha — SHA-1 message digest algorithm

Hardcore cypherpunks will probably find the cryptographic modules written by A.M. Kuchling of further interest; the package contains modules for various encryption algorithms, most notably AES. These modules are not distributed with Python but available separately. See the URL http://www.amk.ca/python/code/crypto.html for more information.