Question

A security analyst has been asked to implement secure protocols to prevent clear text credentials from being transmitted over the internal Network. Which of the following protocols is a security analyst most likely to implement? Select 2

1. SNMPV3

2. S/MIME

3. DNSSEC

4. SSH

5. SFTP

Answer 1

Solution:

Let us evaluate the various security protocols to prevent clear text credentials from being transmitted over the internal network:

1. SNMPV3 --> SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) uses community strings used for authentication are communicated in cleartext over the network and can potentially be captured while in transit and used to conduct subsequent attacks against other internal network infrastructure. Hence, this is not a solution for our requirement.

2. S/MIME --> This MIME protocol is mainly used for emails. It has no special provisions to encrypt transmission of cleartext passwords. Hence, this is not a solution for our requirement.

3. DNSSEC --> The Domain Name System Security Extensions is designed to protect Internet resolvers (clients) from forged DNS data, such as that created by DNS cache poisoning. It is a set of extensions to DNS and does not cater to cleartext password transmission. Hence, this is not a solution for our requirement.

4. SSH --> In Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell, the connection is encrypted, so eavesdroppers can't see the password. Hence, this is a solution for our requirement.

5. SFTP --> In SSH File Transfer Protocol authentication is done on SSH layer and it's secure. Since the FTP is done on the SSH layer, hence the cleartext passwords will be encrypted and eavesdropper will not be able to see the password. Hence, this is a solution for our requirement.

Answer: The protocols likely to be implemented are SSH and SFTP.