Workbook on Digital Private Papers > Glossary
Glossary - C
Checksum
A checksum is a string of characters produced when a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is performed on a digital object. If the digital object was modified (even in a small way) and the CRC repeated, a different checksum would be returned. By calculating a checksum value for a digital object we can be sure that the object stored in the digital repository is the same as that accessioned at the premises of the record creator. This can help us to prove the authenticity of digital objects.
