Why is a password salt called a “salt”? [closed]

Question

Closed. This question is off-topic. It is not currently accepting answers.

---

Want to improve this question? Update the question so it's on-topic for Stack Overflow.

Closed 8 years ago.

Is there a significance to the word "salt" for a password salt?

Answer 1

I would guess because it's easy to add "salt" (NaCl or a fixed string). But once you do, the output is irrevocably changed (food, encrypted password).

Answer 2

Because before you hash the password, you add a random text to it. So, it looks like as if you add some "salt" to the original "food" ... password :)