I would say that the best scenario would be simply good security practice -
Restrict access to where the password is stored
Keep the password known to as few people as possible
Choose a strong password
Change it very frequently
Don't use the same password for all systems
I know this isn't the answer you want, but I don't think there is another way. No matter where you store your password, you could be bitten by someone - external or internal. $ perldoc perldoc