From the course: LPI Linux Essentials (010-160) Cert Prep

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Account security

Account security - Linux Tutorial

From the course: LPI Linux Essentials (010-160) Cert Prep

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Account security

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- So we've talked about the fact that the user account is protected with a password. In the past, the /etc/password file actually held the password information. And since it must be readable by all users, storing your password here was really risky, because if I had the Jason Dion and then password right next to it, you could just go in and read my password. So, to correct this, we have moved the passwords out of that password file and into the shadow file. Ordinary users can't read the shadow file, because this file associates passwords stored using what's known as a salted hash. Now, a salted hash uses a one-way mathematical process with additional random input to produce what looks like nonsense or gibberish to us humans. When the user types a password, it's actually salted and hashed, and if that salted hash matches what's in the shadow file, you get access to the system. Now, a typical etc/ shadow file is going to…

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