The SqlMembershipProvider class supports different password storage formats enabling you to increase the security of your membership user logins. Clear passwords are stored in plain text, which improves the performance of password storage and retrieval but is less secure, as passwords are easily read if your data source is compromised. Encrypted passwords are encrypted when stored and can be decrypted for password comparison or password retrieval. This requires additional processing for password storage and retrieval, but is more secure as passwords are not easily determined if the data source is compromised. Hashed passwords are encrypted using a one-way salted hash when stored in the database. When a password is validated, it is combined with a salt value and then hashed. The result is compared with the value in the database for verification. Hashed passwords cannot be retrieved.

Note:
If you are not familiar with the membership features of ASP.NET, see Introduction to Membership before continuing. For a list of other topics related to membership, see Managing Users by Using Membership.

The following example shows the membership element in the system.web section of the Web.config file for an ASP.NET application. It specifies the application's SqlMembershipProvider instance and sets its password format to Hashed.

<membership defaultProvider="SqlProvider" 
  userIsOnlineTimeWindow="20" hashAlgorithmType="SHA1">
  <providers>
    <add name="SqlProvider"
      type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider"
      connectionStringName="SqlServices"
      enablePasswordRetrieval="false"
      enablePasswordReset="true"
      requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true"
      passwordFormat="Hashed"
      applicationName="MyApplication" />
  </providers>
</membership>

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

.NET Framework

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