SDB:Password Protection in wvdial

Version: 7.0

Situation:

All users who can use the modem have read permissions for the file /etc/wvdial.conf.
You want to prevent other users from finding out your Internet password, which is saved in this file.

Procedure:

There are two ways of solving this problem:

Save the password in a different file.
Apart from the main configuration file, wvdial reads also the file .wvdialrc in the home directory of the user who has started it. This file does not have to be readable for the group uucp, but for the user only.

Please proceed as follows:

- Use an editor of your choice to create as normal user the file ~/.wvdialrc in your home directory. The file content shall be the following:

Password = yourpassword
This file can be protected from other users' eyes with
chmod 600 ~/.wvdialrc

Login as root user and delete the password line from the file /etc/wvdial.conf in the [Dialer Defaults] section.

Do not save the password at all.
Open Yast2 and select the module Network/Modem+ISDN.
Please disable the checkbox Save password in the dialog box Internet access - configure Internet parameters.

Your password will not be saved on the system and, therefore, you will have to enter it every time you set up a connection.

Remarks:

Apart from the password, you can also move the rest of parameters from /etc/wvdial.conf to ~/.wvdialrc. In this way, you can also hide the user names and phone numbers.
Please note that these procedures cannot be applied if you use dial-on-demand (automatic connection).

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