[Tutor] How to store and use passwords?

[boB Stepp]

OS: Solaris 10. Python: 2.4.4 on the computer I will be doing my
development work. 2.6.4 on the production environment.

I am working on my first python program at work to automate a set of
tasks that allows for the results of a radiotherapy plan to be
compared to a set of constraints that the plan should meet. The end
result will be a report window where items that meet the constraints
are flagged green, those requiring physician comment yellow, etc. The
form will require two forms of physician approval: one for the overall
document and then a line item approval with comments for those items
that are not "green".

I am still trying to figure out the design while my users merrily keep
changing their requirements. This has led me to investigating the
electronic sign offs of the end product. This would seem to require
(in my mind) a password protected electronic signature for each
physician. I have done some cursory searching on this topic, which led
me to the concept of hashing passwords for storage. I just read
http://www.cyberciti.biz/python-tutorials/securely-hash-passwords-in-python/
which seemed informative, but suggests the use of the module passlib.
Unfortunately, I am not allowed to install anything on the production
environment, nor can anyone else. The physicians do not seem to care
if I password protect their electronic sign offs or not. All of this
information is contained on a subset of our private intranet that
"supposedly" is protected from outside (of our organization) access,
though I am fairly confident that with what little I know I could gain
access from my home. If I can, then I am sure that someone
knowledgeable and skilled would be able to do the same.

Suggestions?

-- 
boB