Securing passwords stored inside of a database field using Python

[ssthapa at harper.uchicago.edu]

Moshe Zadka <moshez at zadka.site.co.il> wrote:
>On Wed, 17 Jan 2001, Andreas Jung <andreas at andreas-jung.com> wrote:
>
>> When it is neccessary to decrypt stored passwords you could try an algorithm
>> like IDEA. Maybe take a look at the mxCrypto or amkCrypto package for Python.
>> They implement the most popular crypto algorithms. But take care of the
>> US export controls for encryption software.
>
>A bigger problem might be patents: IDEA, for example, is patented.

    That's true but there are unemcumbered algorithms like 3DES and 
the Rijndael (sp?).  However, you still have the problem that you need
the key to decrypt the passwords to be stored on your system somewhere.  
Since the original poster want to hide passwords from people that could 
access the database, this doesn't seem like much help.

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