Pro PHP Security: From Application Security Principles to the Implementation of XSS Defenses, Second Edition

Encryption vs. Hashing

The title of this chapter, “Using Encryption,” is perhaps somewhat inaccurate, for it fails to distinguish between two technically different modes of hiding information so that it can't be casually read, namely encryption and hashing. Both modes keep their secrets by applying an algorithm to transform information from a plaintext format into na enciphered format. In the case of encryption, the algorithm uses a key (typically a very large, randomly chosen value), and the transformation is reversible provided the same key is used. But in the case of hashing, the plaintext information is itself the key, and the resulting encrypted message serves as a unique, nonreversible signature that can be generated only by the same plaintext ...