How to obscure a password

[Peter Hansen]

Peter Hansen wrote:
> 
> > Peter Hansen wrote:
> > #- Is it that you're going to be sending this password to a
> > #- remote system,
> > #- so basically you've got a utility which allows storing the password
> > #- locally so that a user doesn't have to retype it but can still access
> > #- the remote system?  (If that's the case, you could title this utility
> > #- "security-removal-tool" because that's what it is.  Your
> > #- call though...)
>
[snip Facundo's reply]
> 
> Ah, storing it _locally_.  That's at least a darn sight better than storing
> it unencrypted on a server where an adminstrator has access.  At least this
> way one can rely on physical protections such as the lock on the office door...

Sorry, I must have been clueless when I wrote the first message.  For some
reason I was thinking that the place where the file was stored would be
accessible to other people, even though I clearly knew at the time it was
"local".  Must have confused myself after my first impression that this would 
be storing the password on a server where an admin user could see it.

So local is okay, and yes, I know, dozens of other programs already do
this, probably with less security than whatever you'll come up with.

-Peter