What is SSH?
		Why should I use SSH?
		How do I get started using SSH?

What is SSH?

SSH is like telnet but with encryption.

Here is an excerpt from the FAQ:

Secure Shell (SSH) is a program to log into another computer over a network, to execute commands in a remote machine, and to move files from one machine to another. It provides strong authentication and secure communications over unsecure channels. It is intended as a replacement for telnet, rlogin, rsh, and rcp. For SSH2, there is a replacement for FTP: sftp.

Why should I use SSH?

The system administrators of the FSU Mathematics Department highly recommend that all math faculty, students, and personnel use SSH instead of telnet, for reasons of security.

SSH protects against:

		Interception of cleartext passwords and other data by intermediate hosts (PEOPLE STEALING YOUR PASSWORD OR CREDIT CARD NUMBER)
		IP spoofing, where a remote host sends out packets which pretend to come from another, trusted host. Ssh even protects against a spoofer on the local network, who can pretend he is your router to the outside.
		IP source routing, where a host can pretend that an IP packet comes from another, trusted host.
		DNS spoofing, where an attacker forges name server records
		Manipulation of data by people in control of intermediate hosts
		Attacks based on listening to X authentication data and spoofed connection to the X11 server

How do I get started using SSH?

Here is a short list of some of the many free SSH programs available:

For Windows:

PuTTY is a free Windows 95/98/NT/2000 (Win32) SSH client, and comes with scp.

For Macintosh:

MacSSH is a modified version of BetterTelnet with SSH2 support, and is free. Math users should see our MacSSH installation instructions.