SSH – Secure (Socket) Shell

Presentation by :
Shubhankar Jadhav
 What is SSH?
It is a cryptographic network protocol that allows two
computers to communicate and share the data over an
insecure network such as the internet. It is used to
login to a remote server to execute commands and
data transfer from one machine to another machine.

The SSH protocol was developed by SSH communication security Ltd to safely
communicate with the remote machine.
 Use
SSH(Secure Shell) is access credential that is used in the
SSH Protocol. In other words, it is a cryptographic network
protocol that is used for transferring encrypted data over
network. It allows you to connect to a server, or multiple
servers, without having you to remember or enter your
password for each system that is to login remotely from one
system into another.
 Keys
It comes in key pair:

1. Public key – Everyone can see it, no need to protect it. (for encryption function)
2. Private key – Stays in computer, must be protected. (for decryption function)

Key pairs can be of the following types:

3. User Key – If public key and private key remain with the user.
4. Host Key – If public key and private key are on a remote system.
5. Session key – Used when large amount of data is to be transmitted.
 Working
• Public keys from the local computers (system) are passed to the server which is
to be accessed.
• Server then identifies if the public key is registered.
• If so, the server then creates a new secret key and encrypts it with the public
key which was send to it via local computer.
• This encrypted code is send to the local computer.
• This data is unlocked by the private key of the system and is send to the server.
• Server after receiving this data verifies the local computer.
• SSH creates a route and all the encrypted data are transferred through it with no
security issues.
SSH is key based authentication that is not prone to brute-force attack.
It is more convenient and secure than login ids and passwords (which can be stolen in middle). There is no exposure
of valid credentials, if a server has been compromised.
 SSH Encryption Techniques

To make a secure transmission, SSH uses three different encryption techniques at

various points during a transmission. These techniques are:

- Symmetrical Encryption
- Asymmetrical Encryption
- Hashing
 Symmetrical Encryption

Only one key can be used in symmetric encryption techniques to encrypt & decrypt messages sent
and received from the destination. This technique is also known as shared key encryption
because both devices use the same key to encrypt the data they send and decrypt the received data.
 Asymmetrical Encryption

In asymmetrical encryption, two different keys are used for encryption and decryption, private and
public keys. The private key is private to the user only and cannot be shared with any other user,
whereas the public key is shared publicly. The public key is saved on the SSH server, whereas the
private key is saved locally on the SSH client; these two keys form a key pair. The message
encrypted with the public key can only decrypt with the corresponding private key.
 Hashing

One-way hashing is another form of cryptography used in Secure Shell Connections. One-way-
hash functions differ from the above two forms of encryption in the sense that they are never
meant to be decrypted. They generate a unique value of a fixed length for each input that shows no
clear trend which can be exploited. This makes them practically impossible to reverse.
Summary