From the course: Learning Cryptography and Network Security

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Understanding passwords

Understanding passwords

A password is a commonly used method to authenticate users into a system. In this segment, we'll outline methods for storing passwords using cryptographic functions to enhance security. A password serves as a form of authentication, like presenting your driver's license at the bank to cash a check. Despite ongoing efforts to enhance security, numerous incidents involved compromised passwords have been reported over the past several years. As a result, we've learned that we need to use improved methods to store passwords. These methods include the following: incorporating a cost factor, adding a salt, and using a key derivation function. Let's discuss each of these. One method is using a cost factor or iteration count, as it increases the processing demand of generating a hash. Another method is by using a salt. Salting the hash is a random value that is generated and used when hashing a password. Salting helps prevent brute force and rainbow table attacks by making each stored…

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