> Any idea if mount sends the passwords securely? Or is it cleartext (ugh!)?
That should depend on the authentication methods made available by the server; mount doesn't send the URL to the server, it parses it to extract the info it needs to log into the server. If the server only supports cleartext logins, it will have to send the password in cleartext, as would _any_ machine logging into the server. If the server only supports encrypted logins, it will have to send the password encrypted, as would _any_ machine logging into the server.