Most developers know that you cannot store passwords in plain text, but many believe it's safe to hash passwords using `md5` or `sha1`. There was a time when those hashing algorithms were sufficient, but modern hardware makes it possible to break those hashes very quickly using a brute force attack.
In order to truly secure user passwords, even in the worst case scenario (your database is broken into), you need to use a hashing algorithm that is resistant to brute force attacks. The best current choice is bcrypt. In PHP, you can create a bcrypt hash by using [crypt function](http://php.net/manual/en/function.crypt.php). However, this function is not easy to use properly, so Yii provides two helper functions for generating hash from
password and verifying existing hash.
In order to truly secure user passwords, even in the worst case scenario (your database is broken into), you need to use a hashing algorithm that is resistant to brute force attacks. The best current choice is `bcrypt`. In PHP, you can create a `bcrypt` hash by using the [crypt function](http://php.net/manual/en/function.crypt.php). However, this function is not easy to use properly, so Yii provides two helper functions to make securely generating and verifying hashes easier.
When user sets his password we're taking password string from POST and then getting a hash:
When a user provides a password for the first time (e.g., upon registration), the password needs to be hashed: