SSH CLIENTS for PC's
by Jerry Winegarden, last revised 03/21/03
Why ssh? ENCRYPTION
Protect your password from being stolen by hackers!
To maintain web pages on many web servers, you have to either log in
to the web server and edit files directly, or edit them on your desktop
PC or Mac and transfer them to the web server.
The terminal login program telnet and file transfer program ftp (fetch
on a Mac) are
universally available, and up to this time have been universally used
for this purpose. However, telnet and ftp
are insecure in that they send usernames and passwords
(and content) in clear text over the Internet. There are bad guys out there
just waiting to steal your passwords, "sniffing" packets, looking for the
prompt "Username:" or "login:" and the prompt "Password:" and
the grabbing the strings which follow them, which is your login name
and your password. Then, they have access to your system and can do their
bad things in your name.
SSH is a secure alternative which has been available on Unix
machines for the last couple of years. Now there are versions of ssh
clients available for PC's. This document gives links to sites where
you can download these programs for free.
Putty - free ssh client (secure telnet alternative) for PC's
Download from:
pscp - free secure (encrypted) file transfers (ftp alternative) for PC's
winSCP - free secure (encrypted) file transfers - drag and drop (ftp alternative for PC's) (03/21/03)
- WinSCP - home page for winscp - secure (ssh) file transfers (03/21/03)
- winscp download page - secure (ssh) file transfers via drag and drop: winscp220setup.exe (installer) (03/21/03)
psftp - free secure ftp client for PC's