Securing Your Express App with Bcrypt: A Guide to Hashing Passwords
Are you new to building web applications with Express and looking to enhance security? You’re in the right place! In this guide, we’ll walk through the basics of using Bcrypt to hash passwords in your Express application, keeping your users’ sensitive information safe from prying eyes.
Why is password hashing important?
Before we dive into Bcrypt, let’s understand why password hashing is crucial for web applications. When users sign up or log in to your application, they provide sensitive information — their passwords. Storing these passwords in plain text is a big no-no. If your database is compromised, hackers could access these passwords, potentially leading to unauthorized access to user accounts.
Hashing passwords adds an extra layer of security by converting the password into an irreversible string of characters. Even if someone gains access to your database, they won’t be able to decipher the original passwords. That’s where Bcrypt comes in.
What is Bcrypt?
Bcrypt is a widely-used hashing algorithm specifically designed for password hashing. It’s known for its security and resistance to brute-force attacks. Bcrypt incorporates a salt, which adds randomness to each hashed password, making it…
