CRAM-MD5
Cram-MD5 is like a secret handshake for email servers. When two email servers want to exchange emails, they have to confirm each other's identities first. Cram-MD5 is a special way of doing this that is extra secure.
Here's how it works. Imagine you and your friend both have secret codes. Before you can talk to each other, you both have to say your secret code out loud to confirm your identities. But you don't want anyone else listening to your secret code and finding out, so you put your code in a special box that only your friend can open. Your friend does the same for you.
Cram-MD5 is like that special box. When two email servers want to exchange emails, they use Cram-MD5 to send each other a secret message. This message includes a special code called a "nonce" that is unique to that exchange. The email server then uses a special trick called "hashing" to turn that nonce into a new secret code.
When the other email server receives that secret code, it takes the nonce and uses the same hashing trick to turn it into the same code. If the code matches the one the other server sent, then they know they are both legitimate servers and can start exchanging emails.
What makes Cram-MD5 so secure is that even if someone is listening in on the conversation, they can't figure out the secret codes because they don't know the nonce or the hashing trick. So it's like a secret handshake that no one else can copy.
Here's how it works. Imagine you and your friend both have secret codes. Before you can talk to each other, you both have to say your secret code out loud to confirm your identities. But you don't want anyone else listening to your secret code and finding out, so you put your code in a special box that only your friend can open. Your friend does the same for you.
Cram-MD5 is like that special box. When two email servers want to exchange emails, they use Cram-MD5 to send each other a secret message. This message includes a special code called a "nonce" that is unique to that exchange. The email server then uses a special trick called "hashing" to turn that nonce into a new secret code.
When the other email server receives that secret code, it takes the nonce and uses the same hashing trick to turn it into the same code. If the code matches the one the other server sent, then they know they are both legitimate servers and can start exchanging emails.
What makes Cram-MD5 so secure is that even if someone is listening in on the conversation, they can't figure out the secret codes because they don't know the nonce or the hashing trick. So it's like a secret handshake that no one else can copy.