UNIX crypt algorithm

The UNIX crypt algorithm is a standard mechanism for encoding user passwords using a DES-based encryption scheme that ultimately results in a one-way message digest. It is called the “UNIX crypt” algorithm because it has historically been used as the default mechanism for encoding passwords in UNIX-based systems.

Note that the UNIX crypt algorithm is considered weak because it is based on a 56-bit encryption algorithm and uses only a 12-bit salt. Therefore, it should only be used in cases where clients expect to be able to retrieve the password from the server and compare its value against what the user supplied instead of attempting to verify it using an bind operation.