What does "salting" do in the context of hashing?

Salting is a crucial technique used in the context of hashing, particularly for securing passwords. By adding random data to passwords before they are hashed, it enhances security by ensuring that even if two users have the same password, their hashes will differ due to the unique salt added to each password. This approach makes it significantly more difficult for attackers to use precomputed tables (like rainbow tables) to crack hashed passwords, as they would need to compute the hash for every possible combination of the password and its unique salt.

In contrast, increasing the speed of the hashing process, removing special characters from passwords, and turning passwords into fixed-length outputs do not contribute to the security benefits that salting provides. Instead, these processes focus on performance or formatting, rather than on strengthening password protection. Salting is specifically aimed at mitigating risks associated with hash collisions and enhancing the overall integrity of stored password data.