IT Support in Pasadena: Understanding Encryption, Hashing, and Salting

Hashing, encryption, and salting are concepts commonly used by IT support providers in Pasadena in keeping the online work environment for businesses secure. While all the three may be somehow related, they exhibit unique properties that clearly bring out their different purposes.

Read on: Protect Your Business and Data with IT Support in Los Angeles

Here is an insight into the three concepts:

Encryption

Encryption is a way of protecting data from unauthorized parties by encoding it so that only those with the key can access it. When you encrypt a password or any message, you apply certain algorithms known as ciphers, which scramble up the whole thing. The key is needed to unscramble it. Encryption is different from hashing since it is two-way traffic. An encrypted message can be decrypted. This makes it useful in many ways such as securely transferring and storing information. Only the authorized parties with the key can access that information. Businesses that have realized the value and power of their data are now seeking encryption services from IT support providers in Pasadena to keep their data secure.

Hashing

Hashing differs from encryption in that once encoding has taken place, it cannot bed encoded, or at least it could be very difficult to do so. Hashing is used to store things that you do not need to read but you want to keep in check. An example is password storage. Instead of storing it in clear text, it could be more appropriate to store it in a hashed form. It is also used to detect whether information has been tampered with through sending hash-based message authentication codes. Hashing is also a vital component of digital signatures, which aid in verifying the integrity of the internet.

Read on: IT Consulting in Los Angeles Can Help Small Businesses Secure Operations Cost-Effectively

Salting

Simply put, salting is adding random data before hashing it. This concept is mostly applied to passwords. Salts clog up anybody trying to a crack a hashed password word. Most people tend to use predictable passwords, which are considered weak. Even if you hash a weak password, an attacker can easily hack it using the rainbow tables or hash tables. However, if done incorrectly, salting can also lose its effectiveness. You can counter such attacks if you use longer and more complex passwords. Alternatively, salting will come in handy, whereby a random string of data is added before the password is hashed.

Read on: Why You Need IT Support in Los Angeles to Guarantee Data Safety

Understanding the above concepts is important in making you aware of how far your business is, in terms of keeping your data safe online. It is time to partner with an IT support provider in Pasadena to help you stay ahead in terms of online security. Contact us at DCG Technical Solutions, Inc. today for IT security and other services.