Perl

Set the FTP Password from a SecureString

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ftp2.SetSecurePassword method, which sets the login password from a SecureString. The only argument is the SecureString. It is equivalent to setting the Password property but avoids holding the password as an ordinary immutable string.

Background: An ordinary string password can linger in memory (and in memory dumps) because strings are immutable and copied freely. A SecureString keeps the value encrypted under a session key and clears it deterministically, reducing that exposure — a sensible upgrade for a credential the process holds for the life of the connection. Populate it from a runtime source rather than a hard-coded literal.

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use strict;
use warnings;
use Chilkat2;

# Demonstrates the Ftp2.SetSecurePassword method, which sets the login password from a
# SecureString.  The only argument is the SecureString.  This avoids holding the password as an
# ordinary immutable string.

my $ftp = Chilkat2::Ftp2->new;

$ftp->Hostname('ftp.example.com');
$ftp->Username('myFtpLogin');

# Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
# from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
my $password = 'myPassword';

# Place the password into a SecureString, which keeps it encrypted in memory.
my $securePassword = Chilkat2::SecureString->new;
$securePassword->Append($password);

# Setting the secure password is equivalent to setting the Password property, but more
# protective.
my $success = $ftp->SetSecurePassword($securePassword);
if (!$success) {
    print $ftp->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

$success = $ftp->Connect();
if (!$success) {
    print $ftp->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

print "Connected using a secure password.\n";

$success = $ftp->Disconnect();
if (!$success) {
    print $ftp->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}