Salt

Salt is a random string of data that is appended to a password before it is hashed to enhance security. The salt is unique for each password and is stored alongside the password hash.

For example, if a user’s password is “password123”, a random salt, say, “Ax7$9Qz”, may be added to it before hashing. As a result, the string “password123Ax7$9Qz” will be hashed. This protects against dictionary attacks and rainbow table attacks, as the hashes of identical passwords will be different due to the unique salt.

Salt significantly complicates password cracking, making the stored hashes much more resistant to being compromised. It is a simple yet highly effective method of increasing password security in systems.