Securing your network with Secure Shell

Tas Dionisakos 2006

This tutorial aims to demonstrate to the attendees the vulnerabilities, security strengths and flexibilities of SSH.

SSH is an acronym for Secure Shell and it is a protocol that is intended to replace ageing and highly insecure communications, such as Telnet or RSH. SSH is a highly valuable protocol due to the public key crypto system it employs and its ability to use a variety of encryption techniques.

This session targets systems administrators who manage small to medium size networks that require secure external access for staff. This tutorial offers a hands-on approach to configuring and securing the SSH server.

Attendees will be able to simulate a SSH tunnel for two remote sites. This will demonstrate how to use SSH as a VPN and a WAN link between two sites, tunneling services such as SAMBA, Mail and Web. Furthermore, installation, security and features of SSH will also be highlighted during this session.

Ultimately, this tutorial will show attendees, step-by-step, how they can gain maximum security and stability from their network/s without the expensive price tag.

About Tas Dionisakos

Tas Dionisakos has spent the last 4 years working in the system administration and network administration field, managing Linux servers. He has a particular interest in network security and has been actively involved in SECURECON for several years. He is currently employed as the IT Manager for Newman College and St Mary's College, Melbourne University and is responsible for over 500 users, over three different sites.