What is the purpose of salting in password security?

Salting in password security serves the essential function of adding random data to passwords before they are processed by a hashing algorithm. This additional random data, known as a "salt," is unique for each password. By incorporating it, the final hashed output differs for passwords that may otherwise be identical, which helps in preventing attacks such as rainbow table attacks. These attacks involve precomputed tables of hashed values for commonly used passwords, enabling attackers to quickly crack them.

The use of salts not only enhances security but also ensures that even if two users have the same password, their stored hashes will be different due to the unique salt applied to each password prior to hashing. This mitigates the risks associated with dictionary attacks, where common passwords are guessed.

The other options, while related to password security, do not directly address the core function of salting. For instance, salting does not aim to create shorter passwords or speed up authentication processes; rather, it focuses on enhancing the security of the password storage.