The hacker looks at: $SHA256$dGhpcyBpcyBhIHNhbHQ$5e884898da... They see the $ separators and know it’s SHA-256 with a salt.
Have you ever run Hashcat against your own passwords to see how fast they break? You might be surprised. crackshash password
Within 15 minutes, 60% of the database is plaintext. The Ominous Reality You might think your ThisIsMySecurePassword! is safe. But consider the law of large numbers . An attacker doesn't need your password. They need anyone's password. The hacker looks at: $SHA256$dGhpcyBpcyBhIHNhbHQ$5e884898da
So, if the database is leaked, the hacker doesn't see Password123! . They see the hash. Here is the nuance: We don't reverse hashes. We guess them. if the database is leaked