No, not something new at all, more of a answer on a lot of questions I got from folks. At TechNet Wiki there is a page that describes how to deal with passwords, secure strings and such.

Working with Passwords, Secure Strings and Credentials in Windows PowerShell

Here is the most common I use:

Create SecureString

Type the password in an interactive prompt:

$SecurePassword = Read-Host -Prompt “Enter password” -AsSecureString

Convert from existing plaintext variable

$PlainPassword = “P@ssw0rd”
$SecurePassword = $PlainPassword | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force

Create PSCredentials

Assuming that you have password in SecureString form in $SecurePassword variable:

$UserName = “Domain\User”
$Credentials = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $UserName, $SecurePassword

Read the rest of the Wiki here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4546.working-with-passwords-secure-strings-and-credentials-in-windows-powershell.aspx

/mike