By Kurt Seifried [email protected]
Before you even begin to think about TCP-IP and network security it is good to have a grasp of the protocols that sit beneath TCP-IP. The two most common protocols most people will encounter are PPP, commonly used for dial-up access and Ethernet, a mainstay of LAN's and the interface that you will see most often on networking equipment like DSL modems and cable modems.
PPP provides TCP-IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI connections over serial lines (which can, of course, be attached to modems, but can also be direct cable connections or even done over Ethernet!). It is the primary method most people use to connect to the Internet (virtually all dial-up accounts are PPP). A PPP connection essentially consists of two computing devices (a computer, a Palm Pilot, a terminal server, etc.) connected over a serial link (usually via modems). Both ends invoke PPP, authentication is handled (by one of several methods), and the link is brought up. PPP has no real support for encryption, so if you require a secure link you must invest in some form of VPN software.
Most systems tended to invoke PPP in a rather kludgy way, you “log in” to the equipment (terminal server, etc.) and then as your login shell PPP is invoked. This of course means your username and password are sent in clear text over the line and you must have an account on that piece of equipment. In this case PPP does not handle the authentication at all. A somewhat safer method of handling this is to use PAP (Password Authentication Protocol). With PAP the authentication is handled internally by PPP, so you do not require a “real” account on the server. However the username and password is still sent in clear text, but at least the system is somewhat more secure due to the lack of “real” user accounts.
The third (and best) method for authentication is to use CHAP (Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol). Both sides exchange public keys and use them to encrypt data sent during the authentication sequence. Thus your username and password are relatively safe from snooping, however actual data transfers are sent normally. One caveat with CHAP: Microsoft's implementation uses DES instead of MD5, making it slightly 'broken' if connecting with a Linux client. There are patches available however to fix this. PPP ships with almost every Linux distribution as a core part of the OS, the Linux PPP-HOWTO is available at: http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/PPP-HOWTO/index.html
coming soon
Last updated on 4/10/2001
Copyright Kurt Seifried 2001 [email protected]