How can you enhance the security of the password file in Linux?

[mayur-srivastava-969b4813 (Mayur Srivastava)]

Linux typically stores user account information, including one-way encrypted passwords, in the test file /etc/passwd. However, this file may be accessed via a variety of programmes, which could pose a security risk.
To reduce this danger, we’ll utilize the shadow password format, which keeps account data in a normal file /etc/passwd, but with the password saved as a single ‘x’ character rather as the real password, i.e., this file does not include the original password. Meanwhile, the encrypted password will be stored in a second file called /etc/shadow, along with other pertinent information like the account/password expiration date, etc. Most significantly, the latter file can only be accessed by the root account, reducing the security risk.