Some passwords are stored using specialized encryption algorithms known as hashes. Why is this an appropriate method?

Hashing is not encryption and uses no key - it is a one-way mathematical function, so there is no key to obtain that would reveal the original password.

Hashing is non-reversible by design, so the original password cannot be retrieved from the hash value - a forgotten password must be reset, not recovered.

Computational speed is not the security rationale for password hashing - purpose-built algorithms like bcrypt are intentionally slow to resist brute-force attacks.

Cryptographic hash functions are designed as one-way operations, meaning the hash output cannot be reversed to recover the original plaintext password. This non-reversibility ensures that even if a database of hashed passwords is compromised, attackers cannot directly obtain the original credentials without time-intensive brute-force or dictionary attacks.