> At worst case scenario you've literally added no security at all with the pepper. Yes, I think this is the most likely failure mode (though not necessarily t

> At worst case scenario you've literally added no security at all with the pepper. Yes, I think this is the most likely failure mode (though not necessarily the only one - crypto can fail in very suprising ways!). But even this is harmful, since you are potentially making changes to security-critical code for no benefit. At best you get more complexity and more chances to introduce bugs, plus a false sense of security.