On Tue, 2002-01-15 at 07:27, Jimmy Jam wrote: > I was told on this list that telnet is quite unsafe and provides serious security loopholes (at least on Linux boxes). What if telnet is used behind a firewall? That should be safe right? What if the telnet port (23) is exposed to the outside wall via a firewall? Is that still unsafe? > > Regards The reason telnet is insecure is because it passes your user name and password in plain text across the network. If you are using telnet only within your local network, then it is safe enough as long as noone can sniff your local network. But if you are using telnet across your firewall, then your user name and password is easily readable to anyone on the Internet (sitting between you and the server you are accessing) with a sniffer. And if people are using telnet to get into your server, then your system is immediately susceptible. You should use ssh, which provides secure versions of telnet, ftp, and rcp. Ssh is easy to set up, and there are both commercial and free Windows clients available (check Tera Term with the ssh plugin). As others have noted, using your server to host domains probably breaks your service agreement. Also, it is likely that your ISP is blocking ports to prevent abuse of their system, and to slow the spread of Nimda/Code Red. In other words, you may not be able to host any websites, because port 80 (www) is blocked. Dave Sherman -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and good with ketchup.