4 ms·
I think people are missing the point that SHA2 is light years ahead of MD5. MD5 has had known security flaws for years. >Do not use the MD5 algorithm Software
by jere 14y ago
I think people are missing the point that SHA2 is light years ahead of MD5. MD5 has had known security flaws for years.
>Do not use the MD5 algorithm
Software developers, Certification Authorities, website owners, and users should avoid using the MD5 algorithm in any capacity.
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/836068 http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/836068
This is from over 3 years ago.
- jlgreco 14y agoThe primary problem with using either as a password hash is their speed.
- jere 14y agoI agree, but my point is that the "use bcrypt" drum has only been beating for a couple years to my knowledge: http://codahale.com/how-to-safely-store-a-password/ http://codahale.com/how-to-safely-store-a-password/ Wind the clock back 3-5 years and it's still stupid to use MD5. I could kind of understand some old code laying around that was less secure.
- veemjeem 14y agoStill, it doesn't matter. As long as one can generate a rainbow table for the hash function, then password lookups will be a O(1) operation. The rainbow table for md5 is moderately small, sha1 is bigger, and I'm sure sha2 is even bigger than the sha1 table.
- jere 14y agoI'm discussing SHA-2 vs MD5. I wouldn't use any hash function without a salt.... which makes the discussion of rainbow tables irrelevant.
- tptacek 14y agoThe security differences between SHA2 and MD5 are irrelevant to the matter at hand. If they were MD5 hashes they'd be broken approximately as quickly and in exactly the same way.