PBKDF2
In the example in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.cryptography.rfc2898derivebytes.aspx, when you get to the line "Rfc2898DeriveBytes k1 = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(pwd1, salt1,
myIterations);", k1 is the hash. The reason the example is for encryption is that Rfc2898DeriveBytes was originally designed to create encryption keys.
If you do not provide a salt, Rfc2898DeriveBytes will create it's own, but I do not know whether RNGCryptoServiceProvider does a better job of being cryptographically random.
According to OWASP (https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Using_Rfc2898DeriveBytes_for_PBKDF2), the underlying use of SHA1 by Rfc2898DeriveBytes means it's only good for hashes up to 160 bits in length. If you create a longer hash, an attacker still only has to worry about the first 160 bits, but you have made password hashing/authentication more expensive for yourself with no gain.
Here's some example code for Rfc2898DeriveBytes password hashing (store the hash, salt and iterations in the DB):
public class Rfc2898PasswordEncoder
{
private int _byteLength = 160 / 8; // 160 bit hash length
public class EncodedPassword
{
public byte[] Hash { get; set; }
public byte[] Salt { get; set; }
public int Iterations { get; set; }
}
public EncodedPassword EncodePassword(string password, int iterations)
{
var populatedPassword = new EncodedPassword
{
Salt = CreateSalt(),
Iterations = iterations
};
// Add Hash
populatedPassword.Hash = CreateHash(password, populatedPassword.Salt, iterations);
return populatedPassword;
}
public bool ValidatePassword(string password, EncodedPassword encodedPassword)
{
// Create Hash
var testHash = CreateHash(password, encodedPassword.Salt, encodedPassword.Iterations);
return testHash == encodedPassword.Hash;
}
public byte[] CreateSalt()
{
var salt = new byte[_byteLength]; // Salt should be same length as hash
using (var saltGenerator = new RNGCryptoServiceProvider())
{
saltGenerator.GetBytes(salt);
}
return salt;
}
private byte[] CreateHash(string password, byte[] salt, long iterations)
{
byte[] hash;
using (var hashGenerator = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(password, salt, (int)iterations))
{
hash = hashGenerator.GetBytes(_byteLength);
}
return hash;
}
}
