What is a SHA-1 hash? SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm, 1st version) is an algorithm which converts a given sequence of characters into another unique sequence of characters, with a fixed length, called "hash". For instance, the SHA-1 hash of the word password is 5baa61e4c9b93f3f0682250b6cf8331b7ee68fd8. These hashes are mostly used to validate file integrity, to encrypt sensitive data (like passwords