Interpeak AB has released the second generation of its Secure Shell (SSH) daemon, which it claims has a smaller footprint and more flexible shell integration model than the free alternatives on Linux. The release supports IPv6, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and Remote Authentication via RADIUS, and is fully supported by Interpeak.

Interpeak says its embedded SSH server protects against the following:

• Eavesdropping and interception of readable passwords and other data by intermediate hosts
• Manipulation of data by people in control of intermediate hosts (hijacking)
• IP spoofing, where a remote host sends out packets disguised as originating from a trusted host
• IP spoofing on a local host, where a spoofer might send a message disguised as originating from an outside host
• DNS spoofing, where an attacker forges name-server records

“In other words, because SSH is built to never trust the Internet; a hostile presence that has taken over a network can not decrypt, play back the traffic, or hijack the connection,” the company claims.

Johan Fornaeus, CEO of Interpeak, says, “Interpeak Embedded SSH guarantees that information sent over the Internet is strongly encrypted, thereby effectively preserving the integrity of corporate networks.”

Interpeak Embedded SSH comes ready to run on eight leading real-time operating systems (RTOSes), including Linux, INTEGRITY, OSE, VxWorks, Nucleus, ITRON and others. It is delivered as portable ANSI C code. According to Interpeak spokesperson Roger Baden, porting it to other operating systems would be “a straightforward task for Interpeak.”

SSH is the de facto Internet standard for remote access, with an estimated three million users in 80 countries, according to Interpeak. SSH provides several secure tunnelling capabilities, which may be used to create rudimentary circuit-layer Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) by forwarding arbitrary TCP connections (for example, for xhosting). One of the main advantages of SSH is its ease-of-use, coupled with state-of-the-art security.

 
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