Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!edhall@rand-unix From: edhall%rand-unix@sri-unix.UUCP Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: Security... Message-ID: <2742@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Jul-83 13:48:00 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.2742 Posted: Fri Jul 1 13:48:00 1983 Date-Received: Thu, 7-Jul-83 20:44:46 EDT Lines: 13 UNIX `salts' its passwords with a 12-bit random number so that identical plaintext has only a one-out-of-4096 chance of producing the same cyphertext. The first two characters of the encrypted password represent this `salt'. The salt is used to permute a lookup table in the DES encryption algorithm. Modifying the DES algorithm used for password encryption in this way also keeps someone from making a fast password-search device using a DES chip (unless the salt just happened to be that one-out-of-4096th combination that corresponds to the actual DES standard; perhaps this particular salt should be inhibited). -Ed