diff --git a/auth/store/previousNegotiations.go b/auth/store/previousNegotiations.go
index 6bc8931d78827ade1af9df355288ee761ca497d7..b631f1d5dd819c19524a1e52820dc624b9415704 100644
--- a/auth/store/previousNegotiations.go
+++ b/auth/store/previousNegotiations.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ package store
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"crypto/hmac"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"encoding/json"
 
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ func (s *Store) CheckIfNegotiationIsNew(partner *id.ID, negotiationFingerprint [
 	// If the partner does exist and the fingerprint exists, then make no
 	// changes to the list
 	for i, fp := range fingerprints {
-		if bytes.Equal(fp, negotiationFingerprint) {
+		if hmac.Equal(fp, negotiationFingerprint) {
 			newFingerprint = false
 
 			// Latest = true if it is the last fingerprint in the list
@@ -158,7 +159,7 @@ func marshalPreviousNegotiations(partners map[id.ID]bool) []byte {
 }
 
 // unmarshalPreviousNegotiations unmarshalls the marshalled json into a
-//// list of partner IDs.
+// // list of partner IDs.
 func unmarshalPreviousNegotiations(b []byte) (map[id.ID]bool,
 	error) {
 	unmarshal := make([]id.ID, 0)
diff --git a/cmix/follow.go b/cmix/follow.go
index ceda2004f11eb8a24a21fa8ed8233f6a73feb7cf..3ed80bc98c1ac51b774843fbc23dbbb6a897308a 100644
--- a/cmix/follow.go
+++ b/cmix/follow.go
@@ -23,15 +23,16 @@ package cmix
 //		instance
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
+	"crypto/hmac"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"fmt"
-	"gitlab.com/elixxir/client/cmix/identity/receptionID"
-	"gitlab.com/xx_network/primitives/ndf"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
+	"gitlab.com/elixxir/client/cmix/identity/receptionID"
+	"gitlab.com/xx_network/primitives/ndf"
+
 	jww "github.com/spf13/jwalterweatherman"
 	"gitlab.com/elixxir/client/cmix/identity/receptionID/store"
 	"gitlab.com/elixxir/client/stoppable"
@@ -294,7 +295,7 @@ func (c *client) follow(identity receptionID.IdentityUse,
 			marshaledTid := c.session.GetTransmissionID().Marshal()
 			for _, clientErr := range update.ClientErrors {
 				// If this ClientId appears in the ClientError
-				if bytes.Equal(clientErr.ClientId, marshaledTid) {
+				if hmac.Equal(clientErr.ClientId, marshaledTid) {
 
 					// Obtain relevant NodeGateway information
 					nid, err := id.Unmarshal(clientErr.Source)
diff --git a/cmix/message/services.go b/cmix/message/services.go
index 665c4f858dfb2b0af472cd08a4fbdb436df000f0..64f3eed1f9a982854497cca038f08e42625c9eb8 100644
--- a/cmix/message/services.go
+++ b/cmix/message/services.go
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 package message
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
+	"crypto/hmac"
 	"sync"
 
 	jww "github.com/spf13/jwalterweatherman"
@@ -116,10 +116,12 @@ func (sm *ServicesManager) get(clientID *id.ID, receivedSIH,
 // AddService adds a service which can call a message handing function or be
 // used for notifications. In general a single service can only be registered
 // for the same identifier/tag pair.
-//   preimage - the preimage which is triggered on
-//   type - a descriptive string of the service. Generally used in notifications
-//   source - a byte buffer of related data. Mostly used in notifications.
-//     Example: Sender ID
+//
+//	preimage - the preimage which is triggered on
+//	type - a descriptive string of the service. Generally used in notifications
+//	source - a byte buffer of related data. Mostly used in notifications.
+//	  Example: Sender ID
+//
 // There can be multiple "default" services, they must use the "default" tag
 // and the identifier must be the client reception ID.
 // A service may have a nil response unless it is default.
@@ -140,7 +142,7 @@ func (sm *ServicesManager) AddService(clientID *id.ID, newService Service, respo
 
 	// Handle default tag behavior
 	if newService.Tag == sih.Default {
-		if !bytes.Equal(newService.Identifier, clientID[:]) {
+		if !hmac.Equal(newService.Identifier, clientID[:]) {
 			jww.FATAL.Panicf("Cannot accept a malformed 'Default' " +
 				"service, Identifier must match clientID")
 		}
diff --git a/e2e/manager.go b/e2e/manager.go
index 72197eb40c645bbc4e55a5d7485fcab4240203f4..e9d03832b2227593cbe433200c84cc0e05a7cabd 100644
--- a/e2e/manager.go
+++ b/e2e/manager.go
@@ -8,12 +8,13 @@
 package e2e
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
+	"crypto/hmac"
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"sync"
+
 	jww "github.com/spf13/jwalterweatherman"
 	"gitlab.com/elixxir/crypto/e2e"
-	"sync"
 
 	"gitlab.com/xx_network/primitives/netTime"
 
@@ -315,7 +316,7 @@ func (m *manager) closeE2eListener(item receive.Message) {
 	// Check the connection fingerprint to verify that the message is
 	// from the expected E2E relationship (refer to the comment in
 	// DeletePartner for more details)
-	if !bytes.Equal(p.ConnectionFingerprint().Bytes(), item.Payload) {
+	if !hmac.Equal(p.ConnectionFingerprint().Bytes(), item.Payload) {
 		jww.ERROR.Printf("Received %s message from %s with incorrect "+
 			"connection fingerprint %s.", catalog.E2eClose, item.Sender,
 			base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(item.Payload))
diff --git a/e2e/parse/partition/store.go b/e2e/parse/partition/store.go
index 713fc291a9bb530994c3598b26e595eea52a6b03..f8b9c72715b3769630750c3145fcf9908b04e0d4 100644
--- a/e2e/parse/partition/store.go
+++ b/e2e/parse/partition/store.go
@@ -8,9 +8,12 @@
 package partition
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
+	"crypto/hmac"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+
 	jww "github.com/spf13/jwalterweatherman"
 	"gitlab.com/elixxir/client/catalog"
 	"gitlab.com/elixxir/client/e2e/receive"
@@ -19,8 +22,6 @@ import (
 	"gitlab.com/xx_network/primitives/id"
 	"gitlab.com/xx_network/primitives/netTime"
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/blake2b"
-	"sync"
-	"time"
 )
 
 type multiPartID [16]byte
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ func (s *Store) AddFirst(partner *id.ID, mt catalog.MessageType,
 
 	mpm := s.load(partner, messageID)
 	mpm.AddFirst(mt, partNum, numParts, senderTimestamp, storageTimestamp, part)
-	if bytes.Equal(residue.Marshal(), []byte{}) {
+	if hmac.Equal(residue.Marshal(), []byte{}) {
 		// fixme: should this error or crash?
 		jww.WARN.Printf("Key reside from first message " +
 			"is empty, continuing...")