Encrypted Preferences?

Hey all, me again,

I’ve added an option in my application “Speed Freak” to save your password and activate on launch. However, the password is stored in the preference file as plain text. I don’t think I need to point out how dangerous this is.

Is it possible to encrypt items in preference files or would I be better off learning how to store the password in the user’s keychain? I’m looking for whatever is easier for me and the user.

I don’t know very much about the security considerations that would be involved, but I recently posted an encryption library to MacScripter’s Code Exchange:

http://macscripter.net/exchange/comments.php?id=318_0_1_0_C

It uses the do shell script command to access the openssl command line tool.