Re: Telnet vs PcAnywhere

[David M. Fetter]

Neither telnet or pcanywhere are vpn solutions at all.  They are remote 
access tools.  However, if you are allowing telnet in from over the 
internet you are already in bad shape.  Telnet sends all it's traffic 
including passwords in clear text.  PCanywhere used to only send via 
clear text, but lately I believe they have an option to use encryption, 
however this solution is still not the best.  Your best solution would 
be to setup a real VPN perhaps using freeswan with iptables on a linux 
system on each end.  That would provide you with what you want along 
with encrypted traffic.

P.S.  Most people now days have converted from telnet to ssh.  I would 
suggest you look into this as well.

Tony Lindsey wrote:
Folks,

What is the difference in security protection/features between granting an outside vendor VPN access using TELNET versus using PCANYWHERE?  Some of our vendors need vpn access to their servers inside our network..and I have seen the firewall rules set up both ways.

In my discussions with the firewall administrators, security people, network engineers, server administrators, etc...it seems as though the people are using telnet and pcAnywhere interchangeably.  I was always under the impression that telnet was more restrictive.

Tony Lindsey 
Audit and Risk Management Group
Managed Medical Services LLP
U.S. Division



_______________________________________________
Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com
The most personalized portal on the Web!
.



--
David M. Fetter - http://www.fetterconsulting.com/
"The world is full of power and energy and a person can go far by just 
skimming off a tiny bit of it." Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash