diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5cdb0935..c4d159d2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -33,3 +33,6 @@ witness_node_data_dir
 programs/witness_node/object_database/*
 
 object_database/*
+
+*.pyc
+*.pyo
diff --git a/programs/witness_node/saltpass.py b/programs/witness_node/saltpass.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..6562fc23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/programs/witness_node/saltpass.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import base64
+import getpass
+import hashlib
+import json
+import os
+
+pw = getpass.getpass("enter your password:  ")
+pw_bytes = pw.encode("utf-8")
+salt_bytes = os.urandom(8)
+salt_b64 = base64.b64encode( salt_bytes )
+pw_hash = hashlib.sha256( pw_bytes + salt_bytes ).digest()
+pw_hash_b64 = base64.b64encode( pw_hash )
+
+print(json.dumps(
+{
+    "password_hash_b64" : pw_hash_b64.decode("ascii"),
+    "password_salt_b64" : salt_b64.decode("ascii"),
+},
+sort_keys=True,
+indent=3, separators=(',', ' : ')
+))