We wish to create a Java GUI desktop application for our authorised helpdesk staff to perform their normal operations. For e.g. they often have to check log files for errors if a user called or verify database account lock outs etc.
Therefore with a click of a button, the application will “login” to the correct server via SSH api, or a database JDBC api to do the intended task. I believe for logging in to *nix servers, we can use SSH without passwords, i.e use keys. However, there would be some function that need a login and password to be hard coded into the application.
What could be a good way to do this without compromising the security of providing user name and passwords in the code?