In the context of the quote, "crypto" means "cryptographic system", which encompasses authentication. They tried to implement a "secure login token" by leaking

In the context of the quote, "crypto" means "cryptographic system", which encompasses authentication. They tried to implement a "secure login token" by leaking the user credentials in quasi-plain text (with the advent of rainbow tables then GPUs, MD5 is barely better than Rot13 nowadays). But still, there's math in that. Strings form a monoid under concatenation and toLowerCase() is a pure function (probably 'map (_ $ 223) source' for a given subset of the domain). To keep with your (insulting) analogy, they tried to build a car by pouring mayonaise on a crankshaft when they really needed a trumpet. By doing so, they ruined the protection offered by their otherwise strong password hash. Don't roll your own crypto. Also, assuming your interlocutor has a modicum of intelligence is basic courtesy.