VB.NET

SFTP Authenticate with a SecureString Password

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.AuthenticateSecPw method, which authenticates using SecureString login and password objects. The first argument is the login and the second is the password.

Background: A SecureString keeps the credential encrypted in memory, reducing the chance of a plaintext password lingering in the process. The behavior otherwise matches AuthenticatePw; only the credential handling is more protective. Populate the SecureString from a value obtained at runtime, not a hard-coded literal.

Chilkat VB.NET Downloads

Download Chilkat for VB.NET

VB.NET

Dim success As Boolean = False

'  Demonstrates the SFtp.AuthenticateSecPw method, which authenticates using SecureString login
'  and password objects.  The 1st argument is the login and the 2nd is the password.

Dim sftp As New Chilkat.SFtp

'  Step 1: Connect the SSH transport.  Port 22 is the usual port.
Dim port As Integer = 22
success = sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",port)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  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.
Dim password As String = "mySshPassword"

'  Place the login and password into SecureString objects.
Dim secureLogin As New Chilkat.SecureString
secureLogin.Append("mySshLogin")
Dim securePassword As New Chilkat.SecureString
securePassword.Append(password)

success = sftp.AuthenticateSecPw(secureLogin,securePassword)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  Step 3: Open the SFTP subsystem.  This must be done after authentication and before any
'  file or directory operations.
success = sftp.InitializeSftp()
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


Debug.WriteLine("Authenticated with secure strings.")

sftp.Disconnect()