Patent ID: 7249260

Claim:
A method for implementing a pluggable password obscuring mechanism, comprising: receiving a request to obscure a password to produce an obscured version of the password, wherein the request to obscure the password includes a salt, which is an item of data associated with the password; if the request to obscure the password specifies a customized technique from a plurality of customized techniques for obscuring the password, wherein obscuring the password involves using the salt as an additional input to a function that obscures the password, loading a dynamic library that performs the customized technique, and using the dynamic library to obscure the password; if the request to obscure the password does not specify a customized technique for obscuring the password, using a default technique to obscure the password; receiving a request to generate the salt; in response to the request to generate the salt, determining if the request specifies a customized technique for generating the salt; if the request specifies a customized technique for generating the salt, loading a dynamic library that performs the customized technique for generating the salt, and using the dynamic library to generate the salt; if the request does not specify a customized technique for generating the salt, using a default technique to generate the salt; and storing the obscured password in a password store; whereby the customized technique for obscuring the password can be used without having to modify source code to include the customized technique.