NPM - ActiveDirectory Module Authentication

Question

I am using activedirectory module from npmjs in one of my node application to authenticate against Active Directory, My question Is- Is it required to send plain string password while authenticating with AD? I mean if ad stores the user password it must be encrypting it in someway or other, can we send a encrypted password for authentications? Here is what I mean -

ad.authenticate(username, password, function(err, auth) { 
// instead of plain password can it be encrypted password?
 if (err) {
    console.log('ERROR: '+JSON.stringify(err));
    return;
  }

  if (auth) {
    console.log('Authenticated!');
  }
  else {
    console.log('Authentication failed!');
  }
})

Answer 1

The solution is to use ldaps (Secure LDAP) and provide a CA for verification when you first connect. The credentials being sent over the wire will be encrypted and MITM attacks won't work if you forcing certificate verification.

const ActiveDirectory = require("activedirectory");
const ad = new ActiveDirectory({
    url: "ldaps://dc.domain.com",
    baseDN: "dc=domain,dc=com",
    username: "username@domain.com",
    password: "password",
    tlsOptions: {
        ca: [fs.readFileSync("CA.crt")],
        rejectUnauthorized: true // Force Certificate Verification 
    }
});