Why is salt important in security?

Why is salt important in security?

Salt is crucial in security because it adds randomness to passwords, making them harder to crack.

How does salt protect against rainbow table attacks?

Salt prevents rainbow table attacks by ensuring that even identical passwords have unique hashes, complicating precomputed attacks.

Is there a standard length for salt values?

Yes, a common practice is to use salt values of at least 16 bytes to ensure sufficient randomness.

Can salt be used with any hashing algorithm?

Yes, salt can be used with any hashing algorithm, but it's especially effective with algorithms like SHA-256.

What happens if two users have the same password?

Even if two users have the same password, their hashes will differ due to unique salt values, enhancing security.