The statement is fundamentally incorrect. Cryptographic hash functions are, by design, one-way functions. This means that while it is easy to compute a hash from a given input (the password), it is computationally infeasible to perform the inverse operation—that is, to derive the original password from its hash value. Password cracking programs do not "reverse" the hashing process. Instead, they work by performing a forward-hashing comparison. The attacker takes a list of potential passwords (e.g., from a dictionary or a brute-force generation), hashes each one using the same algorithm as the target system, and compares the resulting hash to the stolen hash. If a match is found, the attacker has successfully discovered the password.

The option "True" is incorrect because it misrepresents the core security principle of password hashing. The entire security of storing password hashes relies on the non-reversibility of the cryptographic function. If the process were reversible, hashing would provide no meaningful protection against password theft.

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-63B

Digital Identity Guidelines: Authentication and Lifecycle Management.

Section 5.1.1.2

Memorized Secret Verifiers: "The use of a one-way function (the approved hash algorithm) on the salt and the password value makes it computationally infeasible to reverse the process and retrieve the password from the stored hash value." This explicitly states that reversing the process is computationally infeasible.

2. MIT OpenCourseWare

6.858 Computer Systems Security

Fall 2014.

Lecture 5: Web Security

Section 3

Passwords: The lecture notes define a one-way function as: "easy to compute H(x)

hard to find x from H(x)." It then describes password cracking as a process of guessing a password x'

computing H(x')

and checking if it matches the stored hash

confirming that the process is one of guessing and comparing

not reversing.

3. Stanford University

CS 155: Computer and Network Security.

Lecture Notes on Passwords and Authentication: The course material states

"Hashes are one-way functions: given y

it is hard to find x such that h(x)=y." It further describes offline attacks (password cracking) as: "Attacker steals hash file... Tries to find x such that h(x) = y... Guess passwords x'

compute h(x')

and check if h(x') = y." This reinforces that the method is iterative guessing and hashing

not mathematical inversion.