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ISC2 CC 4.1 NIST 800-53 AC-17 CompTIA Network+ 3.5 CompTIA A+ Core 2 4.9 ISC2 CC 4.2 CompTIA Security+ 3.2 Cisco CCST Cybersecurity 2.5
InteractiveSecurityFree

Which Remote Access Fits?

Command line, desktop, hosted desktop, web app or the whole network? Pick the remote access that fits each job.

⚑ Complete this interactive to capture a CTF flag worth 5 points.

About this interactive

Dial-in once meant a bank of modems; the internet made remote access faster and cheaper, but its traffic crosses public lines, so it has to be secured. The methods in the lesson: - VPN (virtual private network): traffic is encrypted at one end and decrypted at the other, which forms a tunnel. The remote device, or a whole branch office with a site-to-site VPN, acts as if it were on the company network. - SSH (Secure Shell): an encrypted command line, no graphical interface. For Linux servers, switches and routers, anything you would program by commands anyway. Secure file copies ride on it too: SCP, and SFTP, the SSH File Transfer Protocol. (The video calls FTPS and SFTP two ways of securing FTP. FTPS is FTP with TLS added; SFTP is a different protocol that runs over SSH.) - Remote desktop: a graphical desktop on another machine. VNC works across many systems; RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) is built into Windows. (The video calls RDP "virtual desktop connections".) RDP encrypts its sessions; VNC often does not by default, so it is wrapped in SSH or a VPN. A jump box is a machine on the network you remote into and work from, so your own machine reaches only the jump box and the servers are never opened to the outside. - VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure): a server runs many virtual machines; you remote into one that is already on the network. Your own machine never joins it. - HTTPS: many services are simply web apps, often in the cloud, reached over an encrypted web connection, such as webmail. No connection into the network at all, which the lesson calls the most popular method of all.

What you'll learn

Aligned to

ISC2 CC
4.1 Understand network security
4.2 Understand network security architecture
NIST 800-53
AC-17 Remote Access
CompTIA Network+
3.5 Compare and contrast network access and management methods.
CompTIA A+ Core 2
4.9 Given a scenario, use remote access technologies.
CompTIA Security+
3.2 Given a scenario, apply security principles to secure enterprise infrastructure.
Cisco CCST Cybersecurity
2.5 Implement secure access technologies

Key terms

Secure Shell
SSH
A cryptographic network protocol that provides secure remote login and command execution over an unsecured network.
SSH File Transfer Protocol
SFTP
A secure file transfer protocol that uses SSH to encrypt both commands and data, providing authenticated and encrypted file transfer over a network.
Remote Desktop Protocol
RDP
Remote Desktop Protocol is a Microsoft protocol that enables remote graphical access to Windows systems; it is a frequent attack target commonly exploited via credential brute-forcing, session hijacking, and unpatched vulnerabilities such as BlueKeep.
Virtual Network Computing
VNC
Virtual Network Computing is a graphical remote desktop sharing system; in security contexts, unsecured VNC instances with weak or absent authentication are a common target for unauthorized remote access and lateral movement.
Jump Box
A hardened intermediary host used to access and manage devices in a separate network zone, reducing direct exposure of internal resources.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
VDI
A virtualization technology in which desktop operating systems run as virtual machines on centralized servers and are delivered to end-user devices over a network. VDI simplifies desktop management, improves security, and allows users to access their desktop environment from any device.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
HTTPS
The encrypted version of HTTP that wraps web traffic in a TLS session, operating on TCP port 443, so that the data exchanged between a browser and a web server is confidential and cannot be read or modified by an eavesdropper. HTTPS is now the standard for all web traffic, indicated by the padlock icon in a browser.
Virtual Private Network
VPN
A technology that creates a secure, encrypted tunnel over a public network to protect data in transit.
Site-to-Site VPN
A VPN configuration that connects two fixed network locations through an encrypted tunnel over the internet, allowing them to communicate as a single network.

Topics

Secure Shell Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Virtual Private Network Interactive Categorize

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