Kerberos Installation
Kerberos is a network authentication protocol. It is designed to provide
strong authentication for client/server applications by using secret-key
cryptography. Many of the protocols used in the Internet do not provide
any security. Tools to "sniff" passwords off of the network are in common
use by systems crackers. Thus, applications which send an unencrypted
password over the network are extremely vulnerable.
Some sites attempt to use firewalls to solve their network security problems.
Unfortunately, firewalls assume that "the bad guys" are on the outside, which
is often a very bad assumption. Most of the really damaging incidents of
computer crime are carried out by insiders. Kerberos was created by MIT as a
solution to these network security problems. After a client and server have
used Kerberos to prove their identity, they can also encrypt all of their
communications to assure privacy and data integrity as they go about their
business.
Kerberos is used in Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory as a cross domain
authentication protocol. There usage of Kerberos deviates from the standards
derived by the RFCs and MIT.
The name Kerberos comes from Greek mythology; it is the three-headed dog that
guarded the entrance to Hades. "Cerberus" is the Latin spelling of the Greek
"Kerberos", and according to the OED is pronounced like "serberus", but that
is quite at odds with the Greek, as the initial consonant is a "k". MIT
Project Athena chose to use the Greek spelling and pronunciation.
Kerberos is a private-key, trusted-third-party authentication system where
SSL is a public-key, certificate-based authentication system.
Kerberos Links