Salted Hashes Explained in 60 Seconds

By Jeffrey Jones Security Blog December 4, 2020

Have you ever wondered what a Salted Hash was? Well, here is the Cliff Notes’ Version

Hashing is a function that converts one value to another. Hashing data is a common practice in computer science and is used for several different purposes but in our application, it is a way to transmit a key or password so know other can read it.

The hash function is used for transmitting and storing data to encrypt the information and make sure that only those on a need to know basis can view the data.

In cryptography, a salt is random data that is used as an additional input to a one-way function encryption function that hashes data, a password or passphrase.

A good cryptographic hash function is non-invertible, meaning it cannot be reverse engineered. To this, Salts are used to safeguard passwords in storage to guard against a pre-computed Hash Attack. The Prime Example are Rainbow Tables.

Rainbow Tables are lists of gigantic pre-computed Hashes. A Salted Hash creates a unique hash therefore making the pre-computed hash ineffective.

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Jeffrey Jones / About Author

Jeff Jones is a Cyber Security Architect and Ethical Hacker for Topgallant Partners. He has been in Data Communications for over 35 years. He responsible for all day-to-day operations, technical consulting, and security design for Topgallant.

His expertise is in Security Program Design, Security Risk Analysis and Assessment and Cyber Security Testing to include Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Testing, Social Engineering, Phishing, Wi-Fi Exploitations, Password Cracking, Man-in-the Middle Attacks and Web Application Hacking.

He has a M.A. in Computer Resources Management from Webster University and a B.A. in Journalism from Purdue University. He is also a terrible golfer.