What is MD5 commonly used for in information security?

MD5 is primarily utilized as a hashing function to provide data integrity. This means that it takes an input (or message) and produces a fixed-size string of characters, which appears random. When the original data is modified in any way, even a minor change, the resulting MD5 hash will be drastically different from the original. This characteristic makes MD5 valuable for verifying that data has not been altered or corrupted.

In terms of its role in information security, MD5 plays a crucial part in checksums and digital signatures to ensure that data remains unchanged during transmission or storage. For instance, when files are downloaded, the provided MD5 hash can be calculated to confirm that the file received is the same as the one intended, thereby assuring integrity.

While MD5 has some vulnerabilities that have led to the development of more secure hashing algorithms, its primary purpose remains in integrity verification, rather than providing confidentiality, encrypting passwords, or aiding in network intrusion detection.