Securing a VNC Server on Linux with SSH | Linux Today

Securing a VNC Server on Linux with SSH

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Jun 13, 2012

While VNC implements some sort of encryption for the login process, it’s not fully secure and the login password could be sniffed and cracked by people on the local network or Internet. Plus the actual VNC sessions aren’t encrypted at all.

To fully secure your VNC sessions you can tunnel the traffic through a SSH connection to the server. To do so, you’ll first want to set up an SSH server and open the SSH port 22 on the machine you’re trying to remotely access. Then on the computer you’re remotely connecting from you can set up a port forward in the SSH client.

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.