Security has long been an important computer issue, but it’s become increasingly relevant as the number and severity of threats has risen.
One security risk of great concern is network data sniffing. When data is passed over a local network wire or when it’s passed between networks, the potential exists for parties other than the sender or recipient to intercept the data. Sniffing can give miscreants access to your passwords, sensitive documents, or even just a peek into your link.
Some network protocols protect against sniffing by encrypting data. Some protocols encrypt just the most sensitive data — typically, passwords — while others encrypt all data. One of the more popular protocols for encryption is the Secure Shell (SSH). It’s most commonly used for secure, remote text-mode logins and remote file transfers. but can also be used to safeguard other types of data transfer, such as remote mail retrieval via POP or IMAP, file sharing via SMB/CIFS or NFS, and remote GUI logins with VNC.
Using SSH tunneling, SSH serves as an extra layer, encrypting the data transferred via other TCP protocols. (SSH tunneling by itself won’t handle UDP or other protocols, though.) SSH tunneling is fairly simple to set up, but does require explicit support on both the client and the server, and has some limitations. In a basic configuration, you’ll tunnel only those protocols you want to encrypt between two systems.
An Overview of SSH Tunneling
In an ordinary TCP/IP connection, the…
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