CODEWITHSUNDEEP
hashcryptography
msamogh
msamogh

Reputation: 147

How is hashing safe if a given string always generates the same hash?

I am a newbie to hashing, and I understand that MD5 (I know it's broken) and SHA-1 are all fixed hashing algorithms, but given that most passwords are dictionary words or other similar passwords, what's the point of storing it in a hash if an attacker can use Google to backtrack the original password?

I mean, isn't SHA-1 or SHA-2 or any of those algorithms rendered useless?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 77

Answers (2)

Michael Lenzen
Michael Lenzen

Reputation: 842

You're exactly right, simply hashing a raw password would be insecure. Salting is the solution to that. Instead of hashing just the password, hash the password + random_data and save random_data with the password.

Upvotes: 2

Nicolas
Nicolas

Reputation: 455

You need to salt your hashes to avoid being vulnerable to rainbow and 'google' attacks. Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_%28cryptography%29.

Upvotes: 1

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