Rainbow Table Wrote:
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> How hard is it for someone to crack the password
> to your registered name? Something tells me this
> Phorum software isn't too secure.......
passwords themselves are not stored. what is stored is a the result of putting a password through an algorithm that cannot be undone. this type of operation is called (non-reversible) hashing.
there are many different hashing algorithms and some are more secure than others.
here's a site that show how a password can be changed into number:
http://www.johnmaguire.us/tools/hashcalc/index.php?strtohash=my+secret+password&mode=hash
Quote
examples of the sha256 algorithm
input: my secret password
output: 528eb8404a697e419a740ec1d02908739efce4a04f05a7b90d9f877131d13a44
input: test
output: 9f86d081884c7d659a2feaa0c55ad015a3bf4f1b2b0b822cd15d6c15b0f00a08
input: a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally long password
output: b0ae726103cdcec10bd841c9b9e31601e9789c69765bab9614cb2e187f8f339b
as you can see, it always generates the same length output, no matter the size of the input, a clear indicator that the process cannot be reversed.
"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."