Good encryption method

[tomharto]

Im wondering what other/better encryption methods PHP has other than hash("sha256" and md5.

Also what would a good way of salting a password be? I was thinking hash a username then add that to the password somehow but thats probably a stupid idea :P

[Fou-Lu]

Sha256 or 512 are your best bets nowadays. MD5 has long been exploited.
That sounds like a good salting to me. Whether you hash it or not is really up to you; my dynamic salt is typically a 3 or 4 random char provided for each user.

[tomharto]

Ahh okay, thanks . Does double hashing make it better?

E.g.

$Password = $_POST['password'];

$Password = hash("sha256", hash("sha512", $Password)); 

[Lamped]

Single hash will do fine. Use hash_hmac(). I use a double-salting method. I store one salt with the hash in the database, and have a global hash in the config for the project. I then use hash_hmac('sha512', $value, $dbSalt.$configSalt)

If you're incredibly paranoid, use http://www.lamped.co.uk/utility/saltGenerator.php - yes it's mine. Shameless self-promotion.

I would stick with sha512 for the foreseeable future. Storage isn't really an issue in this modern fancy age of big hard disks.

[hip_hop_x]

Ahh okay, thanks . Does double hashing make it better?

E.g.

$Password = $_POST['password'];

$Password = hash("sha256", hash("sha512", $Password)); 

Double hashing won't make it better or worst and the only method to figure out the password remains cracking.