Encryption vs Hashing vs Salting

Data Integrity and Privacy form the building blocks of cybersecurity. These three core techniques- encryption, hashing, and salting, are considered to be the most important ones when it comes to the security of digital data. This is done to protect data during the process of storage and transmission, but they altogether play different roles and use a wide variety of mechanisms to achieve this.

What is Encryption?

Data are secured by converting them into a format that cannot be read without the secret key required for unscrambling them to the original form. Encryption’s primary purpose is to keep data from unauthorized access. It changes readable data into ciphered information that can only be understood by those who know the key.

What is Hashing?

It transforms the data into a fixed size of string characters, usually being a digest (representing the original string). This method is one-way, therefore, the original data cannot be extracted from the product. whenever hashing does work in such a way that whenever there is an attempt to tamper (alter) data then that hashing produces a different result and this different result can easily become apparent in comparison with the original hash. In other words, this function maintains the exactness of the data.

What is Salting?

The process of salting involves the addition of a random string to existing data to counter dictionary and rainbow table attacks.

Realizing the distinctions among these approaches assists in using the proper technique for a particular situation and, consequently, improves the process of data security. Salting is significant for password correctness as a hashing process, salting incorporates another level of protection for the hashed data (e.g., passwords) by prepending an arbitrary string before the hashing process, making an object of effort for the attackers who may use rainbow tables since the attack methods will be ineffective.

Differences Between Encryption, Hashing and Salting

Aspect	Encryption	Hashing	Salting
Definition	A way of converting the plaintext into ciphertext, which can be reversed.	A method to convert data into a fixed-size string that cannot be deciphered.	random values can be added to the data before the hashing to ensure the uniqueness of the hashes.
Purpose	To keep the data confidential and secure, accessible only to people with the key.	To validate the uniqueness and integrity of data, which is for example for the sake of secure storage of passwords.	Aiming to secure hashed data by assisting in blocking rainbow table attacks.
Reversibility	Reversible using the appropriate code.	Non-reversible. That way, the output does not contain any information about the input.	Irreversible because it is based on hashing.
Type of Operation	Bidirectional	Unidirectional	Unidirectional
Common Algorithms	AES, RSA, DES	SHA-256, MD5	Utilizes hashing algorithms like SHA-256 with an added component (the salt).
Use Cases	Database fields and file encryption, network packet encryption, and traffic are left only to authorized users.	Besides, storing user passwords as well as maintaining data integrity are among the essential tasks.	Protecting passwords in database systems not only from generic reverse lookup attacks.
Vulnerability	Vulnerable with the key which is used for decryption.	Subject to the impact of two dash trains (both inputs creating the same output).	Rainbow tables and brute force attacks susceptibility cut off.
Output Example	Different allocations are determined by input size and the employing algorithm.	Build a fixed length hash (e. g. a 256-bit SHA-256) that does not depend on the length of data.	Fixed-length entries and some randomness, which is more secure than hashing.

Conclusion

All three of them namely encryption, hashing, and salting are now part of the unavoidable measures in the protection arena. Encryption which is confidential and reversible using a special key, is good for protecting important data and, at the same time preventing hackers from gaining access to it. On the other hand, there is hashing which is keyless and is used only to guarantee the integrity of the data without disclosing the original information.

While through, the randomness of salt that cannot be hashed like passwords ensures that anyone trying to crack the password is blocked against the common cracking methods including the rainbow table attacks. The selection of proper facts is more influenced by the specific requirement of the application case, For example, whether storing or processing the data requires data security or data integrity.

Frequently Asked Questions on Encryption vs Hashing vs Salting – FAQs

Can data hashing be a secure relay method?

Hashing, by its single nature and without the use of encryption, cannot be adequate for secure transferring of data. However, it can verify the data integrity.

Is it possible to decrypt data without a key?

It is impossible to restore decoded data without having a key used to encrypt them.

What is collision in hashing and how can it be resolved?

This way the hash is called a collision. In this ties, the meaningful correspondences only correspond to the good hash algorithms minimization of risk of collisions.