Possible to define variables outside source code?

Hello everyone,

I'm using the coldfusion encryption functions (like decrypt()) to save some credit card info on a database. However, the problem is that the password is in plain sight as part of the coldfusion code.

So my question is, is there a way to define an Application.level variable from the Coldfusion Administrator, and then access that variable from my coldfusion code?

Could it be possible to pass the variable as a JVM argument? If yes, how would I specify it and how would I read it from Coldfusion code?

This seems like a no-brainer thing for coldfusion to have, but I cannot seem to find this feature in the documentation.

- JC