Symmetric Key Algorithms
You already learned about symmetric key ciphers and the major issue with symmetric keys. Read the section in this article on symmetric key encryptions to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of symmetric keys. There is more information about symmetric key ciphers in this article that will be covered in more detail later in this unit, but this article will give you a preview of 3DES, IDEA, and AES ciphers. View the flashcard tool as well to better understand and to learn the terms used in cryptography such as plaintext, ciphertext, key, encryption, decryption, countermeasure, symmetric key encryption, and block cipher.
7. Salting
In encryption and hashing, a salt is random data that is added to the input of a one-way function (hash). The primary function of salting is to defend against dictionary attacks versus a list of password hashes and against pre-computed rainbow table attacks. A new salt is randomly generated for each hash generated. In a typical setting, the salt and the hash key are concatenated into the hash function.
Figure 4 – Adding salt to the hash function
Hashes are used to create pseudorandom numbers which can be used as a salt when hashing passwords for storage.