[asterisk-users] Hide the plain text password

[Richard Kenner]

> How does that improve things? The reason that works with Cisco routers 
> is because the code that reads that special key file and uses it to 
> decrypt the other files is closed-source; nobody can see how it works.
>
> As another poster said, that's not true for Asterisk. If Asterisk had 
> such a facility, the method used to decrypt the protected passwords 
> would be publicly available, as would the decryption key (in the special 
> key file). Anyone who wanted to decrypt the passwords from the config 
> files would have an only slightly more complex route to do so... it 
> would still be straightforward.

Please reread what I wrote.  The encryption key for the passwords
wouldn't be in Asterisk sources, but selected BY THE USER and stored
in a SINGLE configuration file that contains just that password.  This
is what Cisco does.

That way, the rest of the config files, which you might want to put in
a CM system, need not be protected.