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# Computation Speed Techniques - Rainbow Tables
Notes on using rainbow tables to speed up password hash lookups.
Rainbow tables speed up password recovery with precomputed hash values.
They move work from the recovery phase to the preparation phase. The table stores chains of precomputed values.
### Standard approach
For each password candidate:
* Hash it.
* Compare it with the target hash.
* Check whether they match.
### Rainbow table approach
Use a dictionary of precomputed hash chains. This avoids recalculating every hash during the lookup.
The trade-off is storage space. Faster lookups require a larger precomputed table.
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