The big thing about this, is that it is perfectly "OK" to store both the algorithm, cost, and salt alongside the hash.
Most people seem to think, and myself included when I was new-to-it, that storing all those things together would compromise the security. The point of the hash is that it is impossible (almost) to get to the hash without the user's password, and there is no way to get to the password with the entire string you posted.
I'm naive about these things, but I was under the impression that salt just thwarted pre-computed hash tables? I guess should be "just" in quotes.
So somebody with resources and motive could still brute-force that string. It seems that storing the salt somewhere else would add a comparable amount of security as the salt itself. It seems prudent along the lines of "don't put all your eggs in one basket."
> but I was under the impression that salt just thwarted pre-computed hash tables?
Yes. Because if you had two users with the password 'dadada' they would hash to the same value
Now 1234:dadada hashes differently then 1326:dadada hence preventing the use of a prehashed table (you could go through all salts for common passwords, but it's usually a bit long as well)
Most people seem to think, and myself included when I was new-to-it, that storing all those things together would compromise the security. The point of the hash is that it is impossible (almost) to get to the hash without the user's password, and there is no way to get to the password with the entire string you posted.