What Is Password Hashing?
Password hashing is a cryptographic process that transforms plaintext passwords into an unintelligible, fixed-length string of characters. It is a one-way function, meaning that it is computationally infeasible to reverse-engineer the original password from the hashed value. Hashing plays a crucial role in safeguarding sensitive information, such as user passwords, from unauthorized access or disclosure during a security breach.
How Does Password Hashing Work?
Password hashing works by taking a plaintext password and passing it through a mathematical algorithm that outputs a fixed-length string of characters, known as a hash. This hash is unique to the input password, and even a slight change in the input results in a dramatically different hash. When a user attempts to log in, the system hashes the entered password and compares it to the stored hash. If the hashes match, the user is granted access.
What Are the Most Commonly Used Hashing Algorithms?
Various hashing algorithms have been developed over the years to provide different levels of security and performance. Some of the most commonly used algorithms include:
- MD5: A widely-used 128-bit hashing algorithm developed in 1992 by Ronald Rivest as an improved version of MD4. It was initially designed for data integrity purposes but later found widespread use for password storage. However, MD5 has been deemed insecure due to vulnerabilities to collision and brute-force attacks. It is not recommended for secure applications today.
- SHA-2: A family of cryptographic hash functions that includes SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-512/224, and SHA-512/256. Designed as successors to SHA-1, these algorithms produce hash values of different lengths (224, 256, 384, or 512 bits) and are considered secure for various applications, including password storage and digital signatures. Among these, SHA-256 and SHA-512 are the most commonly used.
- Bcrypt: A modern, adaptive password hashing algorithm specifically designed for password storage. Developed in 1999 by Niels Provos and David Mazières, bcrypt is based on the Blowfish cipher. It is considered secure due to its built-in salting mechanism and adjustable hashing complexity, which allows it to adapt to increasing computing power over time.
- Scrypt: A password-based key derivation function (KDF) and hashing algorithm introduced in 2009 by Colin Percival. Scrypt is designed to be memory-intensive, making it more resistant to hardware-based attacks, such as those using Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) or Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). This feature makes scrypt a suitable choice for password hashing and key derivation in situations where resistance to hardware-based attacks is crucial.
- Argon2: The winner of the Password Hashing Competition in 2015, Argon2 is a modern and secure password hashing algorithm designed by Alex Biryukov, Daniel Dinu, and Dmitry Khovratovich. It offers three variants: Argon2d, Argon2i, and Argon2id, which provide different levels of resistance to side-channel and time-memory trade-off attacks. Argon2 is memory-hard and computationally intensive, making it well-suited for password storage and key derivation in security-sensitive applications.
While MD5 is considered less secure today, newer algorithms like bcrypt, scrypt, and Argon2 are recommended for better security due to their resistance to brute-force and dictionary attacks.
What Is Salting and Why Is It Important in Password Hashing?
Salting is the process of adding a unique, random value (the salt) to a plaintext password before hashing it. This added salt ensures that even if two users have the same password, their respective hashes will be different. Salting is important in password hashing because it significantly increases the complexity of cracking hashed passwords through dictionary attacks, rainbow table attacks, or brute-force attacks.
How Does Salting Help Protect Against Rainbow Table Attacks?
Rainbow table attacks involve precomputing hash values for a large number of possible passwords and storing them in a lookup table. An attacker can use this table to quickly find a matching hash and recover the plaintext password. Salting renders rainbow table attacks ineffective because the unique salt added to each password forces the attacker to compute a separate rainbow table for every possible salt value, which is computationally infeasible.
What Is the Difference Between Hashing, Encryption, and Salting?
- Hashing: A one-way function that transforms plaintext data into a fixed-length hash. It cannot be reversed to obtain the original data.
- Encryption: A reversible process that transforms plaintext data into ciphertext using a secret key. Encrypted data can be decrypted using the same key.
- Salting: The addition of a random value to plaintext data (e.g., a password) before hashing, in order to increase security against cracking attempts.
What Are Some Best Practices for Securely Storing Hashed Passwords?
- Use modern, secure hashing algorithms like bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2.
- Employ salting to enhance password security and thwart precomputation attacks.
- Implement key stretching techniques, such as using a high number of hashing iterations, to slow down brute-force attacks.
- Store hashed passwords and salts securely, with proper access controls.
- Regularly update hashing algorithms and security practices to stay ahead of emerging threats.
What Are the Limitations of Password Hashing?
Password hashing has some limitations, including:
- It does not protect against weak or reused passwords, which are more susceptible to dictionary and brute-force attacks.
- Password hashing is not immune to more advanced attacks like side-channel attacks and hardware-based attacks.
- As computing power increases, attackers can attempt brute-force attacks more quickly, requiring more advanced hashing techniques to maintain security.
- No matter how secure the hashing algorithm, it cannot protect against breaches that occur due to social engineering, phishing, or other non-technical attacks.
What Is the Role of Password Hashing in Mitigating Data Breaches?
Password hashing plays a critical role in mitigating data breaches by protecting user passwords from being easily deciphered by bad actors. In the event of a security breach, hashed passwords are much more difficult to crack than plaintext passwords, buying valuable time for organizations to detect and respond to the breach. Moreover, password hashing combined with salting and other security measures reduces the likelihood of successful attacks, such as rainbow table and brute-force attacks, thereby minimizing the potential damage of a data breach.