How can PHP developers improve the security of password storage by using bcrypt instead of MD5?

Using bcrypt instead of MD5 for password storage improves security because bcrypt is a more secure hashing algorithm that is specifically designed for password hashing. Bcrypt incorporates a salt into the hash, making it more difficult for attackers to use precomputed rainbow tables to crack passwords. This greatly enhances the security of stored passwords. 

// Hash a password using bcrypt
$password = 'password123';
$hashedPassword = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

// Verify a password using bcrypt
$enteredPassword = 'password123';
if (password_verify($enteredPassword, $hashedPassword)) {
    echo 'Password is correct!';
} else {
    echo 'Password is incorrect!';
}

Keywords

PHP bcrypt MD5 password storage security

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