[Dev-C++] Help with application security (hiding strings in compiled binaries)

[Ed C. <em...@to...>]

Hi,
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I have an application that, as one of its primary features, connects to
numerous databases with semi-sensitive to highly sensitive info in them. =
The
end users of this will be employees of a large organization, and they =
should
not have ANY direct access to the databases, themselves. So, rather than
giving them a username and password, I want to hard-code that into the
application.=20
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This is currently being done like this (simplified pseudo code):
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    char myconnectionstring =3D
"DSN=3Dsomething;server=3Dmyserver;username=3Dmyname;password=3Dmypass";
    MyConnectionFunction(myconnectionstring);
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The compiled file (binary), though, contains this info in plain text. =
I.e.,
anybody can open it up in Notepad, find the usernames and passwords, and =
go
hack the databases. That won't work.
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So, how can I hide those strings in the compiled code, other than =
building
in some sort of encryption? Would building the passwords from individual
characters (ASCII values) work? Other ideas?
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Thanks!
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-Ed