How does hashing enhance password security stored by the operating system?

Hashing enhances password security by transforming the original password into a fixed-size string of characters that appears random, but it is not reversible back to the original password. When passwords are hashed, the resulting hash value is stored in the system instead of the actual password. This means that even if an attacker gains access to the stored hashes, they cannot easily derive the original passwords.

The correct answer reflects an aspect of password security, but it slightly misrepresents how hashing works since it suggests that a cryptographic key is involved in hashing, which is not accurate in the traditional sense of password hashing. Hashing functions themselves do not require a key for the transformation process, unlike encryption.

In the context of the other options, they do not accurately portray the primary purpose and function of hashing with respect to password security. For example, hashing does not act like a non-random function in a beneficial way; it aims to produce distinct outputs for distinct inputs, contributing to security. Furthermore, it does not merely hide the location of passwords on the file system; rather, it obfuscates the actual passwords through a one-way transformation. Lastly, the idea of reversing a hashed password back to its original form implies a misinterpretation of the hashing process, as it