Secure Telnet Connection

Telnet is inherently insecure. Credential information (usernames and passwords) submitted through telnet is not encrypted and is therefore vulnerable to identity theft. However, users can establish an Secure Shell connection instead to prevent this type of intrusion.

A Secure Shell connection is used to log onto a remote machine over a network, to execute commands on a remote machine, and to transfer files from one machine to another. Secure Shell replaces telnet, rlogin, rsh, and rcp.

Windows

IT officially supports the PuTTY client as the tool of choice for Windows machines for creating a secure remote connection to the University network. PuTTY can be used to establish a connection to UNIX machines on campus as well as the Numerically Intensive Computing machine. PuTTY is also used for creating an X-windows session (graphical UNIX interface).

  • Download PuTTY
  • Installation of PuTTY
  • PuTTY Documentation [HTML]
    • In section 2.1, in the Host Name field, type in the Missouri S&T host name of the server you want to connect to (e.g. nic1.cc.mst.edu will connect to one of the Numerically Intensive Computing servers)

Mac

Mac already has built-in support for Secure Shell. To initiate an Secure Shell connection with the University network through Mac, follow these steps:

  1. Click Applications, then click Utilities.
  2. Click on the Terminal icon. This will open a command line window.
  3. Type: ssh @ (replacing with your username).
  4. Type your password, and the connection will be completed.

Linux

Linux also has built-in support for Secure Shell. To initiate an Secure Shell connection with the university network through Linux, simply open a terminal session, type ssh, and then authenticate using your username and password.

Additional Information

  • Unix Server Hostname -- Remotely connect to UNIX computers on the Electrical Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Numerically Intensive Computing servers via PuTTY, WinSCP, etc.