I think you'll find that there isn't really a secure way to store passwords locally. I think Trillian has done the right thing here by obfuscating saved passwords to prevent casual shoulder-surfing. Trillian could use PBKDF2 to save the passwords locally, but then you'd have to enter a password to retrieve your saved password. If you have reason to worry about the security of your saved password, don't save it. - Mike -- http://www.thoughtcrime.org On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Evan Nemerson wrote: > Software: > Trillian 0.73, possibly other versions. > > Issue: > Weak "encryption" of saved passwords. > > Impact: > Decryption of saved passwords. > > Vendor notified: > 3 Sept., 2002. No response. > > Severity: > Medium. ish. The program only works locally, and only if the subject > has saved their password, and really if someone can get into your AIM > account, how earth-shattering is that??? However, since a lot of people use > the same password for everything... > > --------------------- > > Trillian is, according to trillian.cc, "...everything you need for instant > messaging. Connect to ICQ®, AOL Instant Messenger(SM), MSN Messenger, Yahoo! > Messenger and IRC in a single, sleek and slim interface." > > Upon examination of the Trillian directory (which defaults to C:\Program > Files\Trillian\ ), it appears that passwords are stored in ini files that are > located in {Path to Trillian}\users\{WindowsLogon}. The passwords are > encrypted using a simple XOR with a key apparently uniform throughout every > installation. > > The attached program takes, as command line argument(s), path(s) to these INI > files. It will then display a list of usernames, "encrypted" passwords, and > plaintext passwords. > > > Evan Nemerson > enemerson@coeus-group.com > http://www.coeus-group.com > > > >
