I am trying to figure out where or how i should store application secrets and keys inside a desktop application. For example a facebook app key or dropbox key and secret.So I've read that i should hash, salt, encrypt etc etc these values. This is to prevent someone from reverse engineering my code and seeing the keys. The is all good and well, but with all these methods, i'm just storing a salt or hash value somewhere instead of the key itself, in the end. Surely if a hacker can get to the salt/hash and possibly the source code, they will be able to decrypt the encrypted key and get my password/key/secret anyway? One option I've read about that seems the most secure is to not store this value in the desktop app at all, but to call a web service to obtain the key (probably encrypted). But my question is, even in this case, a decent hacker will surely just do a memory dump or something to see what the value returned from the web service is, and then we're back at square 1.The next best alternative seems to be obscurity.Am I missing something completely?On a side note, what use will a facebook/twitter/dropbox/etc key/secret be to a hacker anyway? Surely they would still need a user's credentials or access token to be able to use it anyway?Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated.
Where to store hashes, salts, keys in Desktop Applications
security;encryption