Password Encryption Utility

About Password Encryption Utility

Password encryption utility helps developers & web admins encrypt passwords with standard encryption algorithms. The passwords encrypted with this utility help store them in databases, etc.

Passwords are sensitive things that should not store as it is. Encrypt any password with our password encryption tool.

Creating a password-protected website means that you are doing every possible step to safeguard your users' information. Today, things are not as simple as in the past. After the technological development, no doubt we achieved many things, but at the same time, we are also vulnerable to specific threats. One of the most addressing threats is the digital security threat.

Even though we adopt different methods to secure the users' information, with time, we are vulnerable to some attacks and other approaches to data collection.

The password is a key to the entrance. Therefore, password encryption is necessary to develop a secure and safest website.

Encryption converts the data or information into a code, making it inaccessible to unauthorized access. The process makes your password unreadable or unusable to hackers. That simple step provides more security by protecting your password just by sitting on the server.

Suppose you have created a strong password and checked its strength, but store that password in plain text on the server. Suppose a hacker approached that server and somehow breached the security. What will happen? That hacker has access to all the server resources, including users' usernames and passwords. Your efforts to create a strong password will get ruined, and the username and password will be sold to the open market to the highest bidder.

Therefore, protecting your website includes three steps.

1. Create a strong random password.
2. Check that password strength.
3. Encrypt that password before storing it.

How does password encryption work?

The four main types of encryption exist; Symmetric key, Public key, Hashed, and Salted. The experts use these terms, but these terminologies can confuse people, especially those with no background in computer science.

Let's discuss each of them.

• Symmetric key: The encryption and decryption keys are identical in that algorithm. Move your password to encrypt it with the same key and then decrypt it with the same key. A hacker can steal the key to grab your password.
• Public key: Leading cryptography scholar Martin Hellman discussed the circumstances and critical insights of his invention of public-key cryptography with collaborators Whitfield Diffie and Ralph Merkle at Stanford University in the mid-1970s and initially developed that in 1973. In that algorithm, two keys play the primary role. The public key is accessible to everyone, and the private key is accessible to only selected persons. The public key is used to encrypt the data, and the private key is used to decrypt the data. That encryption method is also known as asymmetric cryptography.
• Hashed: It's a cryptographic function that grabs variable-length input and provides the output of a fixed-size alphanumeric string.
• Salted: The technique involves appending random numbers or letters at the beginning or the end of your password before going for hashing. That makes our digest different from what it would be if the password was encrypted alone. The web admin can use the fixed salt for every password or variable salt that changes with each password. However, the variable/random salt is considered the more secure one because you have it in random order, and it's relatively complex for hackers to know it. Another approach is to use both fixed salt and variable salt. The salt contains some fixed and variable portions because the only variable part will be stored undigested along with digest results.

Rules in password encryption

The web admins must follow some specific rules in the password encryption process.

1. The algorithm that encrypts the password must use a one-way process to encrypt the password. The algorithm does not allow the user to decrypt the password.
2. Match the input and the saved passwords by matching the digests or encryption form, not the unencrypted form. Suppose a user enters the password during the sign-in process. The system must digest the password using the same algorithm as when the user created the password.

The most common encryption ciphers are utilized by our password encryption tool.

• Standard Des: DES stands for Data Encryption Standard and its symmetric-key algorithm. Feistel developed it at IBM. The algorithm uses complex operations to convert the fixed length of the password or string into an encrypted form.
• MD5: MD5 stands for Message-Digest Algorithm 5, and Ronald Rivest invented it in 1991. It's a hash algorithm. It takes the input of any size and converts it to fixed size 128 bits (16 bytes) output. The majority of professionals prefer that algorithm, as it uses one-way hashing. It does not allow anyone to retrograde the encrypted form to its original decrypted text.
• SHA1: SHA1 stands for Secure Hashing Algorithm. It's a hash algorithm. It takes the input of any size and converts it to fixed size 160 bits output.
• Uuencode: Uuencode is also called Uuencode/Uudecode. It's binary to text encoding, written by Mary Ann Horton at UC Berkeley in 1980.
• Base64: It's a binary to ASCII encoding scheme that uses the 64 characters set present in most characters.

How do encrypt the passwords?

Password encryption has become easy, especially with the development of online tools. After creating a solid password and checking its strength, the next step is to store its encrypted form in the database. For password encryption, perform the following steps.

• Open the Password Encryption Tool.
• Enter the password, and click on the "Encrypt my Password" button.
• The tool instantly processes your request and provides you with the results.

The best method for password encryption

The MD5 algorithm is considered harmful today, and Google also announced the first SHA1 collision in 2017. Google recommends using strong hashing algorithm techniques like SHA-256 and SHA-3.

Does password-encryption alone is enough?

Practically speaking, the answer is a big NO. Most web admins do not realize that password encryption is one step toward a secure website. Encrypting a password does not mean that your complete website is secure. If your website is not well coded, the hackers can avail the chances of leaks. That can lead to severe damage, especially to hackers who can access users' confidential information. Therefore, a well-coded website with powerful password encryption is essential. Because of the hackers trying to hack your website, they would hardly achieve success because it takes a lot of time and resources to get the desired results. Moreover, it's essential to maintain the database and website's backup regularly.