How does hashing secure password files against hackers?

Hashing is a crucial technique for securing password files, and the choice that emphasizes that hashes cannot be reversed to reveal the original password captures the essence of how hashing enhances security. When a password is hashed, it is transformed into a fixed-length string of characters, which is unique to the input password. This transformation is designed to be a one-way function, meaning that while it's easy to compute the hash from the original password, it is computationally infeasible to derive the original password from its hash.

The inability to reverse the hashing process is a significant aspect of its security, as it prevents an attacker from retrieving the original password even if they gain access to the hashed values. This adds a layer of protection for user credentials, as even if the hashed passwords are compromised, they cannot be directly exploited to validate user access.

Additionally, the practice of salting—adding random data to each password before hashing—further enhances security by ensuring that identical passwords yield different hashes, thwarting dictionary and rainbow table attacks. This reinforces the security integrity of hashed password files, making them more resilient against unauthorized access.

In contrast, storing passwords in cleartext would expose them to immediate compromise upon unauthorized access, making that approach highly insecure. While encrypting passwords can