30th August 2002
Question: Can a virus on your hard drive spread on its own?
Answer: Let me start by saying this is my opinion and I am sure that there are plenty of other opinions. I recommend SSH. Telnet is great for certain functions, but if you just want to connect to another computer, you should use SSH because it is secure. SSH actually stands for Secure Shell, if that tells you anything. With telnet it is very easy for a hacker to "sniff" out your login information with a network packet sniffer. SSH makes it hard for hackers to do IP spoofing and source routing, meaning a hacker can't modify his/her computer to say it is from a trusted network because SSH will check. SSH also doesn't rely on cleartext passwords like telnet does. Yes, cleartext is exactly what it sounds like. It is your password being transferred in clear/plain text. I would compare it to saying your pin number out loud while standing at an ATM machine. I hope this sheds a little light on the benefits of using SSH over telnet. I will say, telnet is nice for a quick connection, especially for configuring routers when you aren't connected on a network.