Salting is a technique used in computer security to enhance password protection. It involves adding a random string of characters, known as a salt, to a user's password before it is hashed. This process ensures that even if two users have the same password, their stored password hashes will be different due to the unique salts. In addition to improving security, salting helps defend against attacks like rainbow tables, which are precomputed tables used to crack hashed passwords. By using salts, the time and resources required for such attacks increase significantly, making it more difficult for unauthorized users to access sensitive information.