In our time, every day we use dozens if not hundreds of
applications connecting to some kind of data repository. This
simple step is normally executed over the network and
given so, it is subject to possible sniffing with all the
possible related consequences.
Given that it is normally better to protect your connection using data encryption like SSL, or at the minimum, make the information you pass to connect less easy to be intercepted.
At the same time it is best practice to not store connection credential in clear text, not even inside a table in your database. Doing that is the equivalent of writing your password over a sticky note on your desk. Not a good idea.
The main options are instead in either transforming the passwords to be less identifiable like hashing or to store the information in an external centralized vault.
In MySQL the passwords are transformed in order to not be clear …
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