all I know is that it doesn't take even one microsecond to compare 32 bytes - it takes nanoseconds. and yes, I can't think of a way to meaningfully measure that delta over a real network, where every packet passes through dozens of switches and routers, each one of which introduces enough entropy to completely drown out any attempt to measure things with such precision.

but more importantly, what kind of system allows itself to be pounded with thousands or millions of requests to the authentication endpoint?