The secure shell (ssh) is regarded as a much better protocol than telnet and rsh for connecting to remote hosts. The Secure shell can be used for logging in, copying files, executing commands, and building VPN solutions. The connection is encrypted from the beginning, and most secure shell implementations are able to detect man-in-the-middle attacks. With contemporary fast computers, the overhead of encrypting the communication is not noticeable except for very large files, and there is no excuse to keep using telnet and ftp. ssh clients exist for Microsoft Windows so even webmasters can be forced to shift from the insecure ftp solution of the past.
Working with ssh involves creating a pair of encryption keys. The private key is kept at your computer, while the public key can be stored on the remote computer, and you can log in without typing in your password every time. Many hard-working system administrators see this as a big time-saver. But in order to keep your...