Passwords

[bouche]

I'm encrypting the passwords from users with the mysql function PASSWORD(), storing them in a table.
Now i would like to "decrypt" this again using PHP.
I read on the mysql-site that this function is non-reversible, but is there any PHP-function which can do the job??

[Anon]

Most likely the function you mention and the PHP md5 function are similar, if not the same function altogether.

AFAIK, there is no known way to reverse this.

The idea is that if it's mathematically irreversable, then somebody would have to do a brute-force attack (try every password possible) to crack your password database if it gets compromised, rather than just "decrypt" them, and read them.

-Ben