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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