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Generate secure salted hashes with customizable algorithms and iterations for password storage and data security
Specialized tool for password hashing with cryptographic salt, key stretching, and secure storage
Use this tool for:
💡 For file checksums or HMAC authentication, use the Hash Generator
A salted hash is a cryptographic hash that includes random data (salt) combined with the input before hashing. This prevents rainbow table attacks and ensures that identical inputs produce different hashes when using different salts.
❌ Same password = Same hash
❌ Vulnerable to rainbow tables
❌ Easy to crack with precomputed hashes
✓ Same password = Different hashes
✓ Rainbow tables useless
✓ Each hash requires individual cracking
Rainbow tables are precomputed hash databases. Salt makes them useless because attackers would need a rainbow table for every possible salt value.
Even if two users have the same password, their hashes will be completely different due to unique salts. This prevents pattern detection.
Attackers must crack each password individually. Combined with key stretching (multiple iterations), this makes brute force attacks impractical.
Salted hashing is required by security standards like OWASP, PCI DSS, and NIST. It's the minimum requirement for password storage.
If your database is compromised, salted hashes make it extremely difficult for attackers to recover actual passwords.
Meet regulatory requirements for data protection (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2) by implementing proper password security measures.
This tool uses crypto.getRandomValues() for cryptographically secure random salt generation. This is the recommended method for generating salts in web applications.
crypto.getRandomValues() (Browser)
const array = new Uint8Array(32);
crypto.getRandomValues(array);✓ Cryptographically secure • ✓ Built-in browser API
crypto.randomBytes() (Node.js)
const crypto = require('crypto');
const salt = crypto.randomBytes(32).toString('hex');✓ Cryptographically secure • ✓ Server-side
bcrypt / scrypt / Argon2 (Built-in)
bcrypt.hash(password, 10) // Auto-generates salt✓ Automatic salt generation • ✓ Key stretching included
Key stretching applies the hash function multiple times to slow down brute force attacks. This tool supports up to 100,000 iterations for maximum security.
More iterations = more secure but slower. Choose based on your use case:
Store user passwords securely in databases. Never store plain text passwords.
Create secure API keys with salted hashes for authentication.
Generate secure verification tokens for email confirmation.
Create secure, time-limited password reset tokens.
Sign cookies with salted hashes to prevent tampering.
Generate unique session IDs with salted hashes.
A salted hash is a cryptographic hash that includes random data (salt) combined with the input before hashing. This prevents rainbow table attacks and ensures identical passwords produce different hashes. Salting is essential because it makes each password hash unique, even if users choose the same password. Without salt, attackers can use precomputed hash databases (rainbow tables) to crack passwords instantly. With salt, each password requires individual cracking, making attacks impractical.
Secure salt generation uses cryptographically secure random number generators like crypto.getRandomValues() in browsers or crypto.randomBytes() in Node.js. These functions generate unpredictable random data from system entropy sources. A secure salt should be: 1) At least 16 bytes (32 hex characters) long, 2) Unique for every password, 3) Generated using cryptographic RNG, not Math.random(), 4) Stored alongside the hash in plain text. The randomness and uniqueness of salt make rainbow tables useless.
Salt does NOT need to be kept secret and can be stored in plain text alongside the hash. The security comes from the salt's randomness and uniqueness, not from keeping it hidden. Salt prevents rainbow table attacks by making each hash unique. Even if attackers know the salt, they must crack each password individually. Each password must have its own unique salt - using the same salt for multiple passwords defeats the entire purpose of salting.
Key stretching applies the hash function multiple times to slow down brute force attacks. Each iteration makes cracking exponentially harder. Recommended iterations: PBKDF2 (100,000+), bcrypt (10-12 rounds), scrypt (N=16384, r=8, p=1), Argon2 (t=3, m=64MB, p=4). For this tool: 1-100 iterations for data integrity, 1,000-10,000 for general use, 100,000+ for maximum password security. More iterations = more secure but slower. Balance security needs with performance requirements.
Regular hash: Same password always produces the same hash, vulnerable to rainbow tables, easy to crack with precomputed databases. Salted hash: Same password produces different hashes due to unique salts, rainbow tables become useless, each password requires individual cracking. Example: Without salt, 'password123' always becomes '482c811...'. With salt, it becomes '9d2e4a1...' for user1 and '3f7c9b2...' for user2. Salting is the minimum security requirement for password storage according to OWASP, NIST, and PCI DSS standards.
For production password storage, use specialized algorithms: Argon2 (best, winner of Password Hashing Competition), bcrypt (widely supported, battle-tested), scrypt (memory-hard, resistant to hardware attacks), or PBKDF2 (NIST approved, widely available). These include built-in salting and key stretching. For learning or custom implementations: SHA-256 or SHA-512 with manual salting and iterations. Avoid: MD5 (broken, collisions found), SHA-1 (deprecated, vulnerable), plain SHA-256 without salt (vulnerable to rainbow tables). Always use salt + iterations for any password hashing.