Hashing (C)is aone-way cryptographic functionthat produces afixed-length digestrepresenting the original data. If the file changes-even by one bit-the hash will change, making it ideal for verifyingdata integrity. While encryption protectsconfidentiality, and masking/obfuscation protectdata visibility, onlyhashing ensures integrity. Reference: CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Objectives, Domain 1.2 - "Data protection methods: Hashing for integrity verification."