private function process_password($password, $salt = '') {
    /**
     * Process a password to encrypt it for storage or verification.
     * @param string - plain text password for processing.
     * @access private
     * @return array Containing the encrypted password and the salt.
     */

    //Check if the salt has been supplied. If not, generate one.
    if ($salt && strlen($salt) !== 64) {
        log_message('info', 'Supplied password to process_password() was not the correct 64-byte length.');
        return false;
    }
    $salt = bin2hex(mcrypt_create_iv(32, MCRYPT_DEV_URANDOM));

    $hashed_password = hash('sha256', $password . $salt);

    return array('password' => $hashed_password, 'salt' => $salt);
}