password protect file

[Modulok]

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 10:28:47 -0700 (PDT), gmsiders at gmail.com wrote:
> I was wondering if there was a couple of words or things i
> could add to the top of my python script to password
> protect it so that it asks user for the password and then
> after three tries it locks them out or says "access
> denied" and closes/ends the script but if they get it
> wright it proceeds on to the next line of the script total
> noob here any help appreciated

How to correctly implement such features depends on what are you are
protecting. Are you trying to protect another file on the same machine, the
script itself? Is this a server-side script trying to authenticate a web
client? Is this 'kid-sister' level protection or national security level
of protection? We would need more details on what you're trying to
accomplish.

Also, good (i.e. real) security is notoriously difficult to get right. There
are usually pre-built solutions you should make use of instead.

>From your subject line it sounds like you're interested in access control.
If
this is on a controlled system you should instead make use of the pre-built
operating systems access control features such as user accounts, file
permission bits, group policies or Access Control Lists.

If this is in an uncontrolled environment or you just want to protect a
file on
a USB stick from prying eyes you can encrypt the file with a strong
symmetric
cipher like AES. There are existing tools for doing this. Your Python script
could be a wrapper around one of these. (There are certain security
implications to be aware of when doing this.) There's also AES
implementations
available in various pure Python modules. (However these generally are not
FIPS
certified.)

If you are a "total noob" attempting (real) security programming is a bad
idea.
-Modulok-
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