Security is often not top of mind when creating customer-facing applications. But in a landscape of continual data breaches of major corporations like T-Mobile and Google, companies must be vigilant to adhere to security best practices. Processes like password salting and hashing are fundamental to the security posture of your apps. Understanding these broader security concepts is the first step in avoiding major breaches to your database, and loss of consumer trust. In this post, we will explore the basics of encryption and cryptography, the mechanics of password hashing, and the application of salted passwords to uncover why security experts care about these topics. Cryptography & Encryption To understand why salted passwords were created, and how they work, we first need to explore the importance of cryptography and encryption. Some definitions: Cryptography is defined as the practice and study of techniques of secure communication between two parties in the.