Hello all,
I've got a script set-up and i'm interested to know how good if at all it is for its purpose, i have a file which gets source'd in my script to get a couple of variables which hold user and password information. Basically this file is called like so:
source /FILENAME

however just before its call i do this:
mcrypt -ud /FILENAME.nc
(i get asked to input the de-cryption pass phrase done manually when i run the script)
source /FILENAME
mcrypt -u /FILENAME
(asked to input the encryption pass phrase done manually when i run the script)

returns the file back to encrypted and then to /FILENAME.nc

Now its by now obviously sourced in the username and password, how easy or difficult is it to get those variables once my script has been run say in an ssh session, and how long if longer than the ssh session is closed, does the variables stay visiable, its almost acting like a password file obviously.

is this reasonable for keeping username and password safe from say trying to view the file and also if access on the box was gained, not that i expect it to be!! you just never know ??

Thanks

Passwords should be hashed. For example:

Then everytime you need to check the password calculate the hash from the user input and compare it to the hash digest.

Hash functions aim to be easily calculated in one way but not in reverse. So attackers should have a hard time generating the original password from the hash value.

In cases you need the original password (e.g. for ssh sessions) you should use asymmetric authentication.

thats cool, but as the password, user name is only available unencrypted for no time at all i think it would still be ok. But second thoughts i could do away with that all together, and hash the password, and then when i run my script ask the user to enter the password and then compare the hashes, would that be just as good do people reckon its probably how people do it already? Especially as its sha hash and it always the same as long as the same key is used to generate the thing in the first place

Still looking for more information on how long a variable is kept alive for once source'd if anyone knows??

Cheers for the reply!