Devin Asay wrote:
> As John said .lc files are parsed by the server and only the output
> is visible to the browser. But I'm like you, when storing things
> like MySQL login credentials I'm nervous about saving them in plain
> text, even in a .lc file. So I take the extra step of storing the
> credentials in an encrypted form in a file separate from the .lc
> script that calls it. Then I have the .lc script read in and decrypt
> the login credentials before logging in to the MySQL server. It may
> be overkill and one extra step, but most hackers go for the
> low-hanging fruit. I figure this makes it harder, so the bad guys
> will just move on to other targets.
>
> My $.02.
Here's another $0.02, raising the total value to $0.04, courtest of Dave
Cragg, author of libURL and other good stuff:
Whenever practical, it may be useful to store critical data outside the
web root folder, e.g.:
accountfolder/
encryptedpasswords.txt
ht-docs/
.htaccess
index.lc
cgi-bin/
livecode-server
The security benefit here is minor, really only protecting the data from
cases in which Apache fails to handle .htaccess correctly.
Once moved outside the web root, getting that data requires either total
failure of permissions enforcement by Apache (something I've never
seen), or complete access to your server (something we see often,
usually from weak passwords*, and in which case you have bigger issues
to worry about because everything on your site is completely pwned).
Minor as it is to store data outside the web root, as with all things
security each little improvement is just one less potential exploit, so
where there's no downside it's probably worth doing.
As Dave says about moving even the server engine outside web root, "It's
like the difference between quiche and egg pie!" :)
* Lately I use shared SSH keys for passwordless login to my servers, not
only for the convenience but also because it allows me to use scp, rsync
and other Linux utilities from LiveCode.
On dedicated servers (where you have access to sshd.conf), once you have
your shared keys set up you can take that one step further and
completely turn off password authentication altogether, making the
system immune to brute force attacks.
--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World Systems
Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
____________________________________________________________________
ambassa...@fourthworld.com http://www.FourthWorld.com
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