DCC Guide: Generating A Hash For Your Evidence

The Defence Cyber Scheme (DCC) requires applicants to provide a hash alongside the evidence that is provided for the audit. In this blog, we'll show you how to generate your hash.

This evidence and hash are to be retained to ensure the integrity of the documents that have been provided. This allows the assessor to identify whether the evidence that has been provided has changed since the time of initial review.

Generating a hash is simple and is good practice in general when sending files and documents where integrity is paramount.

Before Generating Your Hash

Before you generate the hash of the file, you need to gather all of your evidence into one folder. Once you have put the documents into one folder, right-click and compress or send your folder to .zip

This will compress your files and allow you to generate one hash for the whole file as opposed to a set of hashes.

Note: any change to any file within the zip will result in a different hash, which will be called out by your assessor for explanation.

Generating a File Hash on Windows

To generate a file on Windows, you can use the built-in tools certutil

• Open a command prompt
• Navigate to the location where your file exists
• Run the following command
• “CertUtil -hashfile filename.zip MD5”

Generating a File Hash on Mac

To generate a file on Mac, you can similarly use the built-in tools

• Open a terminal window
• Navigate to the location where your file exists
• Run the following command
• “md5 ./filename.zip”

Save Your Hash

Once you have generated the file, please create a text file with the corresponding hash. You should upload this zip file and the text file to your document sharing tool or space of choice.

Your assessor will proceed to download or access the files and generate a hash to confirm the integrity of the provided evidence.

Need Support with Your Defence Cyber Certification?

Generating file hashes is just one part of the Defence Cyber Certification process. We guide organisations through every stage of DCC compliance. Our team can help ensure your evidence package meets MOD standards the first time.

Ready to start your DCC journey?

Contact our team to discuss how we can support your certification needs, or explore our Defence Cyber Certification services to learn more about our tailored approach to defence sector cybersecurity.