Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

System Account Manager
     
         (SAM) A {password}
        {database} stored as a {registry file} in {Windows NT} and
        {Windows 2000}.
     
        The System Account Manager (SAM) database stores users'
        passwords in a {hashed} format.  Since a {hash function} is
        one-way, this provides some measure of security for the
        storage of the passwords.  In an attempt to enhance the
        security of the SAM database against {offline cracking},
        Microsoft introduced the {SYSKEY} utility in {Windows NT} 4.0.
     
        (2000-07-19)