What is a hardware hash?

But what exactly is a hardware hash? The documentation says that it contains details about the device, but it doesn’t go into specifics beyond the high-level info (manufacturer, model, serial number, “many other attributes that can be used to uniquely identify the device”).

How do I decode a hardware hash?

Fortunately, the ADK contains a tool, OA3TOOL.EXE, that can be used to decode a hardware hash into its components. Look at what you can see from one of my devices. First, using this command line (with part of my hash obscured as I don’t want anyone to try to register my device to their tenant):

How does a device hash work?

The hash is generated from certain simple parameters about their hardware. The hash is submitted to the requester. The requester reads it to find useful information. The requester combines the device hash and other parameters, and compares it to a list of previously gathered hashes to reach conclusions about the user and their intentions.

Do device hashes contain sensitive information?

Nevertheless, all device hashes, when analyzed together with all the other data sourced during the device fingerprinting process, will lead to fairly unique results that can be used to make certain deductions. Device hashes do not contain any private or sensitive information about their users.