Q&A Categories

<

Find a Question:

Q&A: Is it better to use blowfish or md5 to encrypt your linux password?

Jul

5

2010

Question by rbadis112: Is it better to use blowfish or md5 to encrypt your linux password?
What is the best way to encrypt your linux passwork?

Best answer:

Answer by Mad Dog Laurie
Either. If you look at the BSDs, OpenBSD (who pride themselves on security) use blowfish (created by Bruce Schneier). FreeBSD uses MD5.

Both work well but I’d go with BlowFish since I mostly use OpenBSD.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

In: security [ Grey Star Level]
Answer this Question Now Answers 1 Answer
Answer #1

MD5 and Blowfish are two very different things. Blowfish is an encryption function while MD5 is a hash function.

A hash function will transform your password in a digest which is a one way transformation. You can use MD5 to verify that a password is the right one but, as it’s not technically encryption, you can’t retrieve the password from the hash.

So, depending what you want to do, you will choose one or the other:
- MD5 if you want to do password authentication
- Blowfish if you want to store your password securely to retrieve it later

Answer this Question

You must be Logged In to post an Answer.

Not a member yet? Sign Up Now »