I've stumbled upon many opinions, so I ask about them myself. Let $H(x)$ and $F(x)$ be hash functions. is $H(F(x))$ or $F(H(x))$ safer than $H(x)$ or $F(x)$ is $H(F(x))$ or $F(H(x))$ safe when $H(x)$ or $F(x)$ becomes vulnerable is $H(H(x))$ safer than $H(x)$ Background Doing my own research, I...

Lets say there is mutual authentication between a client which connects to a server on an otherwise unsecured TCP channel. Both parties create a random challenge and the other side answers with a keyd-hash, based on a pre-shared symmetric key. $$C\rightarrow open \,\, connection \rightarrow S$$ ...