Concepts: PWENCODE Procedure

Using Encoded Passwords in SAS Programs

When a password is encoded with PROC PWENCODE, the output string includes a tag that identifies the string as having been encoded. An example of a tag is {sas001} . The tag indicates the encoding method. SAS servers and SAS/ACCESS engines recognize the tag and decode the string before using it. Encoding a password enables you to write SAS programs without having to specify a password in plain text.

Note: SAS does not currently support encoded read, write, or alter passwords for SAS data sets.

Encoding versus Encryption

PROC PWENCODE uses encoding to disguise passwords. With encoding, one character set is translated to another character set through some form of table lookup. Encryption , by contrast, involves the transformation of data from one form to another through the use of mathematical operations and, usually, a key value. Encryption is generally more difficult to break than encoding. PROC PWENCODE is intended to prevent casual, non-malicious viewing of passwords. You should not depend on PROC PWENCODE for all your data security needs; a determined and knowledgeable attacker can decode the encoded passwords.