Secure Password Storage

Password management is crucial in web applications to prevent unauthorized access. The OWASP Top 10 highlights the importance of secure password storage to mitigate risks associated with password breaches.

• Hashing: A one-way function that transforms input data into a fixed-size string, typically used for password storage.
• Salting: Adding random data to passwords before hashing to ensure that identical passwords produce unique hashes.
• Key Stretching: Techniques like PBKDF2, bcrypt, or Argon2 are used to increase the computational cost of brute-force attacks.

3.1 Steps to Secure Password Storage

1. Receive the password from the user during registration.
2. Generate a unique salt for the password.
3. Hash the password with the salt using a secure hashing algorithm.
4. Store the salt and the hashed password in the database.
5. During login, retrieve the stored salt and hash the input password to compare.

const bcrypt = require('bcrypt');

async function hashPassword(password) {
    const saltRounds = 10;
    const salt = await bcrypt.genSalt(saltRounds);
    const hashedPassword = await bcrypt.hash(password, salt);
    return { salt, hashedPassword };
}

• Use a strong hashing algorithm (e.g., bcrypt, Argon2).
• Implement salting for each password.
• Apply key stretching techniques to thwart brute-force attacks.
• Regularly update and review your password storage methods.
• Educate users on creating strong passwords.