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Password Security
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* Password Security
@ 2014-02-04 22:17 CS DBA <cs_dba@consistentstate.com>
  2014-02-05 03:20 ` Re: Password Security Payal Singh <payal@omniti.com>
  2014-02-05 08:36 ` Re: Password Security Albe Laurenz <laurenz.albe@wien.gv.at>
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 3+ messages in thread

From: CS DBA @ 2014-02-04 22:17 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: pgsql-admin; +Cc: cs_dba@consistentstate.com

Hi All;

We have an application running via a utility that want's clear text 
passwords stored in it's config files. I know we can setup ident mapping 
but the app doesn't play nice with password prompt requests. We could 
set it's connections to trust but it kinda defeats the purpose security 
wise.

Any thoughts on best/common practices per connecting to postgres 
securely without an interactive password prompt

Thanks in advance





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^ permalink  raw  reply  [nested|flat] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: Password Security
  2014-02-04 22:17 Password Security CS DBA <cs_dba@consistentstate.com>
@ 2014-02-05 03:20 ` Payal Singh <payal@omniti.com>
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread

From: Payal Singh @ 2014-02-05 03:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: CS DBA <cs_dba@consistentstate.com>; +Cc: pgsql-admin

See http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/libpq-pgpass.html . I think
the APPDATA portion might be useful in your case

Payal Singh,
Junior Database Administrator,
OmniTI Computer Consulting Inc.
Phone: 240.646.0770 x 253


On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 5:17 PM, CS DBA <cs_dba@consistentstate.com> wrote:

> Hi All;
>
> We have an application running via a utility that want's clear text
> passwords stored in it's config files. I know we can setup ident mapping
> but the app doesn't play nice with password prompt requests. We could set
> it's connections to trust but it kinda defeats the purpose security wise.
>
> Any thoughts on best/common practices per connecting to postgres securely
> without an interactive password prompt
>
> Thanks in advance
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Sent via pgsql-admin mailing list (pgsql-admin@postgresql.org)
> To make changes to your subscription:
> http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-admin
>

^ permalink  raw  reply  [nested|flat] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: Password Security
  2014-02-04 22:17 Password Security CS DBA <cs_dba@consistentstate.com>
@ 2014-02-05 08:36 ` Albe Laurenz <laurenz.albe@wien.gv.at>
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread

From: Albe Laurenz @ 2014-02-05 08:36 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: CS DBA *EXTERN* <cs_dba@consistentstate.com>; pgsql-admin

CS DBA wrote:
> We have an application running via a utility that want's clear text
> passwords stored in it's config files. I know we can setup ident mapping
> but the app doesn't play nice with password prompt requests. We could
> set it's connections to trust but it kinda defeats the purpose security
> wise.
> 
> Any thoughts on best/common practices per connecting to postgres
> securely without an interactive password prompt

I personally think that having a clear text password stored on the
application server is hardly more secure than allowing trust
authentication for this host.

Essentially you are facing the following conundrum:
A program on a computer should be able to login without human interaction,
but nothing else should.
As far as I know, there is no good solution for this problem.
You can try to hide or obfuscate the password (or other authentication
tokens), but that won't keep a dedicated person logged into the
computer from finding and abusing it.

My opinion is that your best bet is to prevent access to the
computer as much as possible, but not to care too much about how
the computer authenticates with the database.

Yours,
Laurenz Albe

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^ permalink  raw  reply  [nested|flat] 3+ messages in thread


end of thread, other threads:[~2014-02-05 08:36 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages (download: mbox mbox.gz follow: Atom feed)
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2014-02-04 22:17 Password Security CS DBA <cs_dba@consistentstate.com>
2014-02-05 03:20 ` Payal Singh <payal@omniti.com>
2014-02-05 08:36 ` Albe Laurenz <laurenz.albe@wien.gv.at>

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