diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c709fa5..81073ca 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -76,10 +76,12 @@ cacache.get.byDigest(cachePath, tarballSha512).then(data => {
 * Extraction by key or by content address (shasum, etc)
 * Multi-hash support - safely host sha1, sha512, etc, in a single cache
 * Automatic content deduplication
-* Fault tolerance and consistency guarantees for both insertion and extraction
+* Fault tolerance (immune to corruption, partial writes, etc)
+* Consistency guarantees on read and write (full data verification)
 * Lockless, high-concurrency cache access
 * Streaming support
 * Promise support
+* Pretty darn fast
 * Arbitrary metadata storage
 * Garbage collection and additional offline verification
 
diff --git a/lib/entry-index.js b/lib/entry-index.js
index 52b620a..c24c539 100644
--- a/lib/entry-index.js
+++ b/lib/entry-index.js
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ function insert (cache, key, digest, opts) {
     //
     // Thanks to @isaacs for the whiteboarding session that ended up with this.
     return appendFileAsync(
-      bucket, `\n${stringified.length}\t${stringified}`
+      bucket, `\n${hashEntry(stringified)}\t${stringified}`
     ).then(() => entry)
   }).then(entry => (
     fixOwner.chownr(bucket, opts.uid, opts.gid).then(() => (
@@ -140,9 +140,11 @@ function bucketEntries (cache, bucket, filter) {
   ).then(data => {
     let entries = []
     data.split('\n').forEach(entry => {
+      if (!entry) { return }
       const pieces = entry.split('\t')
-      if (!pieces[1] || pieces[1].length !== parseInt(pieces[0], 10)) {
-        // Length is no good! Corruption ahoy!
+      if (!pieces[1] || hashEntry(pieces[1]) !== pieces[0]) {
+        // Hash is no good! Corruption or malice? Doesn't matter!
+        // EJECT EJECT
         return
       }
       let obj
@@ -175,9 +177,18 @@ function bucketPath (cache, key) {
 
 module.exports._hashKey = hashKey
 function hashKey (key) {
+  return hash(key, 'sha256')
+}
+
+module.exports._hashEntry = hashEntry
+function hashEntry (str) {
+  return hash(str, 'sha1')
+}
+
+function hash (str, digest) {
   return crypto
-  .createHash('sha256')
-  .update(key)
+  .createHash(digest)
+  .update(str)
   .digest('hex')
 }
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d69cec8..19068bb 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "version": "6.1.2",
   "cache-version": {
     "content": "2",
-    "index": "2"
+    "index": "3"
   },
   "description": "General content-addressable cache system that maintains a filesystem registry of file data.",
   "main": "index.js",
diff --git a/test/index.find.js b/test/index.find.js
index 312d548..af46a97 100644
--- a/test/index.find.js
+++ b/test/index.find.js
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ BB.promisifyAll(fs)
 
 const CACHE = path.join(testDir, 'cache')
 const contentPath = require('../lib/content/path')
-const Dir = Tacks.Dir
 const index = require('../lib/entry-index')
 
 test('index.find cache hit', function (t) {
@@ -178,7 +177,7 @@ test('index.find garbled data in index file', function (t) {
   })
   const fixture = new Tacks(CacheIndex({
     'whatever': '\n' +
-    `${stringified.length}\t${stringified}` +
+    `${index._hashEntry(stringified)}\t${stringified}` +
     '\n{"key": "' + key + '"\noway'
   }))
   fixture.create(CACHE)
diff --git a/test/index.insert.js b/test/index.insert.js
index 7dce6cb..251d56b 100644
--- a/test/index.insert.js
+++ b/test/index.insert.js
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ test('basic insertion', function (t) {
   }).then(data => {
     t.equal(data[0], '\n', 'first entry starts with a \\n')
     const split = data.split('\t')
-    t.equal(parseInt(split[0], 10), split[1].length, 'length header correct')
+    t.equal(split[0].slice(1), index._hashEntry(split[1]), 'consistency header correct')
     const entry = JSON.parse(split[1])
     t.ok(entry.time, 'entry has a timestamp')
     t.deepEqual(entry, {
diff --git a/test/util/cache-index.js b/test/util/cache-index.js
index 22f20fe..3e2a51c 100644
--- a/test/util/cache-index.js
+++ b/test/util/cache-index.js
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 'use strict'
 
-const bucketPath = require('../../lib/entry-index')._bucketPath
+const index = require('../../lib/entry-index')
 const path = require('path')
 const Tacks = require('tacks')
 
+const bucketPath = index._bucketPath
+const hashEntry = index._hashEntry
+
 const Dir = Tacks.Dir
 const File = Tacks.File
 
@@ -28,7 +31,7 @@ function CacheIndex (entries, hashAlgorithm) {
       }
       serialised = '\n' + lines.map(line => {
         const stringified = JSON.stringify(line)
-        return `${stringified.length}\t${stringified}`
+        return `${hashEntry(stringified)}\t${stringified}`
       }).join('\n')
     }
     insertContent(tree, parts, serialised)
diff --git a/test/verify.js b/test/verify.js
index 9000422..bba0243 100644
--- a/test/verify.js
+++ b/test/verify.js
@@ -48,10 +48,11 @@ test('removes corrupted index entries from buckets', t => {
         t.equal(stats.totalEntries, 1, 'only one entry counted')
         return fs.readFileAsync(BUCKET, 'utf8')
       }).then(bucketData => {
-        // cleaned-up entries have different timestamps
-        const newTime = bucketData.match(/"time":([0-9]+)/)[1]
-        const target = BUCKETDATA.replace(/"time":[0-9]+/, `"time":${newTime}`)
-        t.deepEqual(bucketData, target, 'bucket only contains good entry')
+        const bucketEntry = JSON.parse(bucketData.split('\t')[1])
+        const targetEntry = JSON.parse(BUCKETDATA.split('\t')[1])
+        targetEntry.time = bucketEntry.time // different timestamps
+        t.deepEqual(
+          bucketEntry, targetEntry, 'bucket only contains good entry')
       })
     })
   })
@@ -75,7 +76,11 @@ test('removes shadowed index entries from buckets', t => {
           time: +(bucketData.match(/"time":([0-9]+)/)[1]),
           metadata: newEntry.metadata
         })
-        t.equal(bucketData, `\n${stringified.length}\t${stringified}`)
+        t.equal(
+          bucketData,
+          `\n${index._hashEntry(stringified)}\t${stringified}`,
+          'only the most recent entry is still in the bucket'
+        )
       })
     })
   })