Data breaches are increasingly becoming one of the greatest concerns for most organizations worldwide. In a report by Verizon dated 2017, it found out that 81% of data breaches are caused by stolen or weak passwords; this, therefore, calls in the importance of the security of the password in organizations. In countering this, cybersecurity has taken an even more advanced measure with tokenization and hashing.
Tokenization and hashing are two of the security approaches, each with distinct approaches to guaranteeing information security. Let's dive deep into these two awe-inspiring methods with GCT Solutions.
Tokenization is a process in which data is replaced with a special, random token that is never to be repeated. In tokenization, sensitive information such as credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, or any other valuable information is substituted, using a special kind of random token. The token contains no intrinsic value or meaning and is normally stored in a secure database. This token will eventually be used in place of the original data whenever a transaction or access request is made.
Tokenization mainly includes the aim of securing sensitive information through replacement with nonsensitive data to reduce associated data breach and unauthorized access.
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Hashing is a cryptographic technique that converts data into a fixed-length string of characters, typically a hexadecimal format. The resulting hash is unique to the input data but cannot be reversed to obtain the original information. Hash functions are designed to be one-way, meaning it is computationally infeasible to reverse-engineer the original data from the hash.
Hashing is commonly used for data integrity verification and password storage. For instance, when you enter your password on a website, it's hashed and compared to the stored hash. If they match, access is granted.
To provide a clearer understanding of these two techniques, we have included several examples below:
For instance, if a customer makes an online purchase using his credit card, the real credit card number is not stored in the merchant's database, but generated and stored in place of the actual credit card number. That token is then made useful for transaction processing, which adds that layer of security to protect against potential breaches.
In a password management system, user passwords are hashed and stored in the database. When a user attempts to log in, the entered password is hashed and compared to the stored hash. If they match, access is granted, without the system ever storing the actual password.
Tokenization
Hashing
Purpose
Protect sensitive data
Data integrity verification
Reversibility
Tokens can often be reversed
Hashes are irreversible
Security
High level, original data not stored
Provides data integrity and security
Use Cases
Payment processing, healthcare systems
Password management, data integrity
Tokenization is primarily used to protect sensitive data by substituting it with non-sensitive tokens. It is commonly employed in scenarios where retaining the original data is not necessary, such as payment processing and healthcare systems.
Hashing, on the other hand, serves the purpose of data integrity verification and password storage. It ensures that the data remains unchanged during transmission or storage and is commonly used in password management and digital signatures.
Tokens can often be reversed back to the original data using a secure lookup process. This reversibility allows for the retrieval of the original data when needed, providing flexibility in certain applications.