Rainbow Tables
What are rainbow tables? A powerful tool for decrypting passwords. A relatively large group of people on both sides of the law pour lots of energy into cracking passwords – either because they stand to profit from the criminal process or because they’re experts who regularly check security standards for effectiveness. Rainbow tables make it possible under certain circumstances to find out passwords within seconds. Even if you’re not up to any criminal activity, it’s worth understanding the process. With this knowledge in the back of your mind, you can better understand as a user why complex passwords are necessary, and as a provider of a web offer what must be considered to secure your passwords . Why do you need rainbow tables? Passwords these days are (hopefully) no longer stored online without encryption. When users set a password for their account on an online platform, the string doesn’t appear in plaintext on any database or server. This method would ...