Using Secure Connections
Data passing through most network traffic is not encrypted. This includes traffic that contains your account name and password. When logging in to a remote system using utilities such as ftp, unsecured web sites or email clients, or telnet, your account name and password are sent over the network in plain text. This security issue can be resolved by encrypting all traffic between your host and the remote host.
Email is not an inherently secure mode of communication. There are, however, ways of making it more private and securing your username and password when you log in.
- Securing Your Email Client's Connection to Neo
- Configuring SSL for POP or IMAP
- Open PGP Alliance - OpenPGP is a non-proprietary protocol for encrypting email using public key cryptography.
SSH - Secure Shell
An SSH client provides a command line terminal access much like telnet, but provides strong authentication and encryption. The telnet protocol passes account names/passwords in plain text. The ssh client also allows copying of encrypted files to and from remote computers.
SCP and SFTP - Secure Copy and Secure File Transfer Protocol
This allows transfer of files to and from remote computers, similar to FTP, except that all file transfers are encrypted. SCP is usually distributed as part of the SSH toolkit.
SSL - Secure Sockets Layer
The SSL protocol is mainly used for securing http traffic over the web. Sites that use SSL normally begin their URL for the site with 'https' instead of 'http'. Also, a lock icon normally appears in the browser, although this may not always be the case. This protocol allows account names, password, and other http traffic to be encrypted when passing from the web browser to the web server.
- OpenSSL - Open Source implementation of SSL
- Apache-SSL - A secure Web server based on Apache and OpenSSL
VPN - Virtual Private Network
VPN is available if you are connecting to campus from off campus (outside the campus firewall) and want all traffic encrypted. More information and VPN clients can be found on the VPN page of the Networking and Information Security web site.
If you have any questions concerning secure connections, contact Help Desk Central at 979.845.8300 or helpdesk@tamu.edu.