Which term describes adding random data to a password before hashing?

Which term describes adding random data to a password before hashing?

• A. Password salting
• B. Hashing with salt
• C. Encryption
• D. Key stretching

Answer: (A)

Adding random data to a password before hashing is called salting. The random data, or salt, makes the hash depend on both the password and the unique salt value. This prevents precomputed rainbow table attacks, because the attacker would have to generate a new table for each different salt. It also ensures that identical passwords don’t produce identical hashes across users. The salt is stored with the resulting hash so the system can reproduce the same hash during verification. The other options don’t describe the act of adding random data to the password: encryption is reversible, key stretching refers to making the hash computation harder over multiple iterations, and “hashing with salt” is a description of the process but not the specific term used for the random data added.

Adding random data to a password before hashing is called salting. The random data, or salt, makes the hash depend on both the password and the unique salt value. This prevents precomputed rainbow table attacks, because the attacker would have to generate a new table for each different salt. It also ensures that identical passwords don’t produce identical hashes across users. The salt is stored with the resulting hash so the system can reproduce the same hash during verification. The other options don’t describe the act of adding random data to the password: encryption is reversible, key stretching refers to making the hash computation harder over multiple iterations, and “hashing with salt” is a description of the process but not the specific term used for the random data added.