By default, the Adaptive Server ODBC Driver sends plain-text passwords over the network to Adaptive Server for authentication. However, the Adaptive Server ODBC Driver also supports symmetrical and asymmetrical password encryption; you can change the default behavior of and encrypt your password before it is sent over the network.
The symmetrical encryption mechanism uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt the password, whereas an asymmetrical encryption mechanism uses one key (the public key) to encrypt the password and another key (the private key) to decrypt the password. Because the private key is not shared across the network, the asymmetrical encryption is considered more secure than symmetrical encryption. When password encryption is enabled, and the server supports asymmetric encryption, this format is used instead of symmetric encryption.
You can encrypt login and remote passwords using the Sybase Common Security Infrastructure (CSI). CSI 2.6 complies with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2.
