CMP 468 – Computer Security Lab Work.
Hash Password String using SHA-256 Algorithm
Write a Python program that defines a function and takes a password string as
input and returns its SHA-256 hashed representation as a hexadecimal string.
With this code, passwords can be securely stored and authenticated by hashing
them and storing only their hashed representation.
Python Code:
import hashlib
def hash_password(password):
# Encode the password as bytes
password_bytes = password.encode('utf-8')
# Use SHA-256 hash function to create a hash object
hash_object = hashlib.sha256(password_bytes)
# Get the hexadecimal representation of the hash
password_hash = hash_object.hexdigest()
return password_hash
password = input("Input your password: ")
hashed_password = hash_password(password)
print(f"Your hashed password is: {hashed_password}")
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Sample Output:
Input your password: A123$Loi
Your hashed password is:
859b848f7f4ebf5e0c47befe74b6cb27caf5ea6a63a566f7038e24f1d29ab131
Explanation
The function first encodes the password string as bytes using UTF-8 encoding and then creates
a SHA-256 hash object with the hashlib.sha256 method. It then passes the encoded password
bytes to this hash object by the update method. Finally, it gets the hexadecimal representation
of the hash using the hexdigest method.
In the main program, the user is prompted to input their password using the input method. The
hash_password function is then called with this password as the argument to generate its
hashed representation. The hashed password is then printed to the console using the print
method.
Python hashlib module
hashlib - Secure hashes and message digests
This module implements a common interface to many different secure hash and message
digest algorithms. Included are the FIPS secure hash algorithms SHA1, SHA224, SHA256,
SHA384, and SHA512 (defined in FIPS 180-2) as well as RSA’s MD5 algorithm (defined in
internet RFC 1321). The terms “secure hash” and “message digest” are interchangeable. Older
algorithms were called message digests. The modern term is secure hash.
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Generate Random Passwords of Specified Length
Write a Python program that defines a function to generate random passwords of a specified
length. The function takes an optional parameter length, which is set to 8 by default. If no
length is specified by the user, the password will have 8 characters.
Python Code:
import random
import string
def generate_password(length=8):
# Define the characters to use in the password
all_characters = string.ascii_letters + string.digits +
string.punctuation
# Use the random module to generate the password
password = ''.join(random.choice(all_characters) for i in
range(length))
return password
password_length_str = input("Input the desired length of your
password:")
if password_length_str:
password_length = int(password_length_str)
else:
password_length = 8
password = generate_password(password_length)
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print(f"Generated password is: {password}")
Sample Output:
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Function to Suggest Character Substitutions for Stronger Passwords
Write a Python function that takes a password as input and returns a list of common character
substitutions that could be used to create a stronger password.
Python Code:
def get_password_variants(password):
pass_variants = []
substitutions = {
'a': ['@', '4', 'A'],
'e': ['3', 'E'],
'i': ['1', '!', 'I'],
'o': ['0', 'O'],
's': ['$', '5', 'S'],
't': ['7', 'T'],
'z': ['2', 'Z']
}
for i in range(len(password)):
if password[i] in substitutions:
for sub in substitutions[password[i]]:
pass_variant = password[:i] + sub + password[i+1:]
pass_variants.append(pass_variant)
pass_variants.append(password + '!')
pass_variants.append(password + '123')
pass_variants.append(password + '@')
pass_variants.append(password + '#')
pass_variants.append(password + '$')
pass_variants.append(password + '%')
pass_variants.append(password + '&')
pass_variants.append(password + '*')
pass_variants.append(password + '-')
pass_variants.append(password + '_')
pass_variants.append(password + '=')
pass_variants.append(password + '+')
return pass_variants
password = input("Input your password: ")
result_variants = get_password_variants(password)
print(result_variants)
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Output
