App 3: Password Generator & Checker / Build the password tool
Lesson 9 of 10
Hashing: how sites store passwords
Good websites never store your password, only a slow salted hash of it. Try hashlib to see how one tiny change gives a totally different hash.
Key points
- Hashes are one-way
- Real sites use slow hashes like bcrypt or Argon2
- Same input, same hash; tiny change, new hash
import hashlib
for pw in ["hello", "hellp"]:
print(pw, hashlib.sha256(pw.encode()).hexdigest()[:16])Your turn
Add a menu option that shows the SHA-256 hash of some text, and notice how it changes.
Quiz · +10 XP
Can you turn a SHA-256 hash back into the password?
Log in to save progress and earn XP.