Speaking @ Christchurch Hackers Conference 2020

At CHCon 2020 I reprised an improved version of my talk titled: “A Recipe for Password Storage: Add Salt to Taste”. This time, there’s a video available from the live stream (starts at 2h09m19s):

Here’s the talk description:

Every time a website gets breached you hope to hear “your password was salted and hashed” instead of “your passwords were stored in plain text” - but what does that actually mean, and why is it a good thing?

Wash your hands, don your apron, and join me for as we follow the recipe for storing passwords safely. We’ll learn a bit about cryptography and one-way functions (that’s the hash!), how to source good ingredients (bcrypt, scrypt, argon, oh my!), why adding a pinch of salt helps, how many times must we stir the mix, and what happens if we miss a step? In the face of an attacker, will our delicious password loaf rise to the occasion, or will it fall flat in disappointment and despair?!