[publius911]

To verify a password, the submitted password is put through the same hash and the output is compared to the stored hash. If they match then the proper password has been submitted.

For those of us who are somewhat knowledgeable, but not hackers, can you give us a real world made-up example so it can more easily be grasped?

[null and void]

Suppose the hash was equal to the sum of the bytes in a given password.

If my password was 1111111111 my hash would be 10.

Anyone who puts in 1111111111 would get 10.

So would anyone who put in 22222, or 55, or 19 or 244, or 82, or 28 or...

[taxcontrol]

One of the better explanations on hashes can be found here:

http://www.unixwiz.net/techtips/iguide-crypto-hashes.html