As far as #2 goes:
1. Use SSL
2. A better method would be to hash the user's password into the DB. Then, instead of decrypting & comparing to the one they entered, you would hash the one they entered and compare to the hash in the DB. You can verify they actually typed the correct password since the hash will be unique. Although this doesn't stop brute-forcing if the password hash is compromised, it does protect from "knowing an algorithm" (since you can't reverse the results of a hash).

Footnote: Recent events bring some question to the uniqueness of hashes, but the results they found are for very special cases (so far). Its something we need to keep an eye on, but I don't think it invalidates hash-usage approaches just yet.


- jbWare

In reply to Re: What *are* the best ways to encrypt data? by jbware
in thread What *are* the best ways to encrypt data? by bradcathey

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