Why Salting Password Hashes Matters

A.

The BEST reason for salting a password hash before it is stored in a database is to protect passwords from being saved in a readable format.

Password hashing is the process of converting a password into an irreversible and fixed-length string of characters. Hashing algorithms are designed to be one-way functions, which means that it should not be possible to reverse the process to obtain the original password. However, a common weakness of hashing algorithms is that the same password will always produce the same hash value.

To prevent attackers from using precomputed hash values, salts are added to the password before hashing. A salt is a random value that is added to the password before it is hashed, which ensures that even if two users have the same password, their hashed passwords will be different.

The primary purpose of salting a password hash is to protect the password from being saved in readable format. Even if an attacker gains access to the hashed passwords in a database, they would not be able to obtain the original passwords without knowing the corresponding salt values. Without salting, an attacker could use a precomputed table of hash values to quickly determine the original passwords for many users.

While salting can make the password retrieval process slower, it is not the BEST reason for salting a password hash. Slowing down the password retrieval process can discourage attackers who are attempting to guess passwords through a brute force attack. However, slowing down the password retrieval process alone does not provide sufficient protection against attacks.

Preventing duplicate values from being stored and preventing users from using simple passwords are not reasons for salting a password hash. Salting does not affect the storage of duplicate values in a database, and it does not prevent users from using simple passwords. These issues are typically addressed through other means, such as database design and password complexity policies.