[ Thanks to Tom Berger
for this link. ]
“The traditional network services like ftp, pop or telnet are
convenient but inherently unsafe, since they all make you send a
password and data in clear text over an increasingly unsafe
network. It is almost a no-brainer to intercept these services and
copy transferred data. Furthermore the authentication of the server
is weak: the services are open to so-called ‘man-in-the-middle’
attacks, where an intruder pretends to be the server and thus
receives all data the client is sending.”
“Enter SSH (Secure SHell). By using SSH, you encrypt the
traffic and you can make ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks almost
impossible. It also protects you from DNS and IP spoofing. As a
bonus, it offers the possibility to compress the traffic and thus
make transfers faster. SSH is a very versatile tool: not only does
it replace telnet, you can also ‘tunnel’ services like ftp, pop and
even ppp via it.“
“SSH implementations exist for almost all major operating
systems.”
“The original SSH has been developed by a Finnish company. Due
to copyright restraints and patented algorithms, the Free Software
world now uses OpenSSH, a free SSH workalike.”