After login, gnome-keyring prompts me for a password to unlock the 'default'
keyring. I know this is due to Network Manager, which needs to obtain the wireless
network password.

However, the gnome-keyring prompt doesn't indicate which application that is
requesting to open the keyring, so in principle it could be any one as far as
I know. I'm just trusting my system to not be infected, so I'm assuming that it
is Network Manager at every login... At the very least, gnome-keyring should
indicate which process (path/name and pid) that is requesting access.

Ideally, it should be possible to configure allowed applications and those
applications should be identified by hashing. After each upgrade, the user must
then verify the changes.

Here are some others that have/had the same issue/concerns:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1656249
http://efreedom.com/Question/6-21645/Application-Asks-Unlock-Keyring-Startup-Say-One

Best regards
Torquil Sørensen