Editing Salt (cryptography) (section)

== Example ==
Without a salt, identical passwords will map to identical hash values, which could make it easier for a hacker to guess the passwords from their hash value.
{| class="wikitable"
! Username
! String to be hashed
! Hashed value = [[SHA256]]
|-
|<code>user1</code>
|<code>'''password123'''</code>
|<code>EF92B778BAFE771E89245B89ECBC08A44A4E166C06659911881F383D4473E94F</code>
|-
|<code>user2</code>
|<code>'''password123'''</code>
|<code>EF92B778BAFE771E89245B89ECBC08A44A4E166C06659911881F383D4473E94F</code>
|}

Instead, a salt is generated and appended to each password, which causes the resultant hash to output different values for the same original password.
{| class="wikitable"
! Username
! Salt value
! String to be hashed
! Hashed value = [[SHA256]] (Password + Salt value)
|-
|<code>user1</code>
|<code>D;%yL9TS:5PalS/d</code>
|<code>'''password123'''D;%yL9TS:5PalS/d</code>
|<code>9C9B913EB1B6254F4737CE947EFD16F16E916F9D6EE5C1102A2002E48D4C88BD</code>
|-
|<code>user2</code>
|<code>)<,-<U(jLezy4j>*</code>
|<code>'''password123''')<,-<U(jLezy4j>*</code>
|<code>6058B4EB46BD6487298B59440EC8E70EAE482239FF2B4E7CA69950DFBD5532F2</code>
|}
The salt and hash are then stored in the database. To later test if a password a user enters is correct, the same process can be performed on it (appending that user's salt to the password and calculating the resultant hash): if the result does not match the stored hash, it could not have been the correct password that was entered.

In practice, a salt is usually generated using a [[Cryptographically_secure_pseudorandom_number_generator|Cryptographically Secure PseudoRandom Number Generator]]. CSPRNGs are designed to produce unpredictable random numbers which can be alphanumeric. While generally discouraged due to lower security, some systems use timestamps or simple counters as a source of salt. Sometimes, a salt may be generated by combining a random value with additional information, such as a timestamp or user-specific data, to ensure uniqueness across different systems or time periods.