How to Properly Hash a String

Question

Will the following function correctly hash my provided string? Or am I missing something fundamentally important?

Private Function HashString(ByVal value As String, ByVal salt As String) As String

    Dim dataBytes As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(value + salt)
    Dim hash As New System.Security.Cryptography.SHA512Managed
    Dim hashBytes As Byte() = hash.ComputeHash(dataBytes)

    Return Convert.ToBase64String(hashBytes)

End Function

Answer 1

Looks fine to me. Allowing for a salt is important - though it's still left to the caller to ensure the salt is unique.

Answer 2

I think you have the best practice in there, namely the salting of the hash. This is very important and often overlooked. Looks good to me.