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Now's the Time to Make the Switch to SSH for Secure Network Connections

If you use the "telnet" application to fill out your electronic timecards in LETS and haven't yet made the switch to the more secure SSH application, now's the time to make the change. Beginning Saturday, April 15, the ux10 server which hosts both LETS and Purchasing applications, will not accept logins using telnet.

The switch is part of the Lab's efforts to increase cyber-security. Unlike telnet, SSH (for Secure Shell), encrypts network data communications end-to-end and is now being adopted as the Lab standard. The Lab has purchased a site-wide license for F-Secure SSH, a commercial version of the application.

While SSH does require some initial setup and some understanding of how it works, the extra effort is well worth it and will significantly reduce the chance that your data and computers will be tampered with. Installation on a PC or Macintosh is simple and many UNIX workstations are already running the application.

Click here to learn more about SSH from the Lab's Computer Protection Program web site. The Lab's computer support Help Desk at X4357 can also provide assistance.

In conjunction with the switch from telnet to SSH for logging into the ux10 server, a single UNIX login is being implemented for each of the two ux10-based applications, LETS and Purchasing. The change should make it easier for all employees to use the applications. Beginning Saturday, Feb. 15, ux10 users will no longer need to use a personal UNIX account for using either the LETS or Purchasing applications.

Instead, users will use SSH to gain access to the ux10 server, and use a common UNIX login name and password, depending on which application they want to use. To select LETS, users will type in "lets" as both user name and password. For Purchasing, the user and password will be "purch". Once you have gained access to the application you want, the application login will follow the current procedure, with each employee using his or her individual user name and password.