The SHA-256 hash library provides functions to easily calculate SHA-256 hashes for any byte-oriented data. Hash values can be used, for example, in Device Firmware Updates to ensure that the transferred image has not been modified or tampered with.

The SHA-256 specification is available here:

• http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips180-4/fips-180-4.pdf
• http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsFIPS.html