How Can I Securely Hash Passwords for Database Storage?

Database Password Secure Hash Storage

When storing sensitive information such as passwords, preventing unauthorized access is critical. Encryption is a process that makes data unintelligible without the correct key, and is often used for this purpose. However, hashing (one-way function) is the preferred password storage method.

To properly hash passwords, follow the steps outlined in the answer provided:

Step 1: Generate salt value

• Use a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) to create a random salt, a unique value that is added to the password before hashing it.

Step 2: Calculate hash value

• Utilize the Rfc2898DeriveBytes class to generate a hash of a salted password using PBKDF2, a powerful hashing algorithm.

Step 3: Combine Salt and Hash

• Concatenate the salt value with the hash value to create a byte array.

Step 4: Convert to string

• Convert the combined byte array to a Base64 encoded string for storage in the database.

Step 5: Password verification

• To verify a user's password, retrieve the stored hash and extract the salt.
• Recalculate the hash using the same algorithm and salt used when storing the password.
• Compare the recalculated hash with the stored hash. If they match, the password is verified.

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