Re: VPN or FTP?
From: Peter Young (youngpa_at_comcast.no.net.spam.please)
Date: 08/29/03
- Next message: Peter Young: "Re: Keeping an eye on my pc"
- Previous message: mto: "Re: Identity P/W and Security question"
- In reply to: Steve Smith: "Re: VPN or FTP?"
- Next in thread: kroesjnov: "Re: VPN or FTP?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 18:32:45 GMT
"Steve Smith" <s.w.smithREMOVECAPS@cox.net> wrote in message
news:hIL3b.32560$Zw4.27917@lakeread03...
>Peter Young wrote:
>> Bring up a command prompt and type in:
>> tracert <your IP or domain name>
>> and see how many hops it takes to get to your home PC. Every one of those
>> hops is a computer that could be used to monitor your activities. Is it
>> likely? Probably not. Is it possible? Definitely yes.
> That makes sense. But, how would someone who does not have
> access to any of those computers listen in on my FTP session?
> I understand that FTP is far less secure than using VPN,
> but I'd like to have a better understanding of what I'm
> protecting my computer from.
Only someone with access to the data path will be able to listen in. The
danger with FTP is that the username and password are sent as plain text, so
if someone wanted to go to the bother, they could see those values and gain
access to your FTP server. This only means that they could see your files on
the server, same as you. It doesn't sound like you'd have much to worry
about in your office.
Pretty much all hosted web sites are maintained via FTP and you don't hear
much about the lack of security with the FTP protocol. I think WS_FTP is
coming out with a secure client-server model, which would solve the problems
if you used their software on both ends.
VPN offers a number of advantages, not the least of which is the fact that
the password and data are all sent encrypted. You also gain full access to
the remote network and can run things like Terminal Server for remote
administration. FTP doesn't even come close to offering these capabilities.
And you can still use FTP over the VPN, though it is simpler to just set up
a shared drive.
HTH,
Pete
- Next message: Peter Young: "Re: Keeping an eye on my pc"
- Previous message: mto: "Re: Identity P/W and Security question"
- In reply to: Steve Smith: "Re: VPN or FTP?"
- Next in thread: kroesjnov: "Re: VPN or FTP?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Relevant Pages
|
