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Does using passwords with salts make attacking a specific account more difficult than using passwords without salts? Explain why or why not.

Answer :

Using passwords with salts enhances security by creating unique hashes for identical passwords, which prevents attackers from using precomputed hash tables and requires them to crack each password individually. Salts should be unique per account and securely stored to prevent widespread account compromise.

Importance of Salts in Password Security

Using passwords with salts does indeed make attacking a specific account more difficult compared to using passwords without salts. A salt is a random sequence of characters added to a password before hashing. Salting ensures that identical passwords will have unique hashes, thereby protecting against attacks that use precomputed tables of hashes, such as rainbow tables. If two users have the same password, their hashes will differ due to unique salts, forcing an attacker to attempt to crack each password individually. Storing a unique salt for each password also means that if one account's salt is compromised, it does not jeopardize the security of all accounts.

For maximum security, it is important not to use a single, site-wide salt, nor to expose the salt in client-side code or HTML. Instead, unique salts should be securely stored and kept separate from the script that uses them, preferably on a different server than the database. Combining this method with robust hashing algorithms and two-factor authentication can significantly enhance account security. Moreover, conducting a risk analysis can guide the extent of protective measures needed for a particular service.

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