net.sf.mmm.crypto

Interface AbstractGetIterationCount

All Known Implementing Classes:

HashConfig, Md5, Sha1, Sha2, Sha224, Sha256, Sha384, Sha512

public interface AbstractGetIterationCount

Interface to get the iteration count.

Since:

1.0.0

Author:

Joerg Hohwiller (hohwille at users.sourceforge.net)

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
int	getIterationCount()

Method Detail

getIterationCount

int getIterationCount()

Returns:

the iteration count representing the number of repetitive iterations of an algorithm such as a hash function. A value of 1 means that the algorithm is applied only a single time. This can be fine for simple hashing. Any higher number means an according repetition of the algorithm. The higher the number the higher the computation time. While e.g. for password checks a high iteration count may only mean an overhead of roughly one second, an attacker who wants to try every password with a brute force attack will require an extra ordinary magnitude of additional computing power. Therefore in case of a password algorithm such as PBKDF2 a higher number will mean higher security. However, the value is always a trade-off between usability and security. Further, a too high number might even open the door to denial of service attacks (DoS). A good value can only be defined for a particular algorithm in combination of the current hardware resources and computation power that increase over time.

See Also:

PBEKeySpec.getIterationCount()