FTP and Security

hjm357 · Post by **hjm357** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 2:09 pm

I am about to move into a house w/ a cable modem, Linksys Wireless WRT54G router & a total of 7 computers connected w/ a mix of wireless & wired connections. All the computers run XP pro.

One of these computers is an old one we only use to play music on the stereo and I have set up the router to forward ports 20 & 21 to this computer.

We are all college students and would like to be able to access our respective computers from campus so as to be able to work on papers etc w/o the hassle of disks. What is the best way to go about this? I was thinking perhaps have some sort of shortcuts to each computer's shared folders on the computer that current recieves the FTP traffic. Is there a better way & what should I do to protect security?

cyberskye · Post by **cyberskye** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 7:38 pm

What ftp server are you using? I've never set up ftp on windows before, but you should be able to confine folks to their designated home directories. If not, I would suggest looking for a new ftp program.

Will someone be around to perform backups? FTP is pretty insecure - it "comes from a time when the internet was a friendlier, safer place."

Please tell me you're not using IIS...

hjm357 · Post by **hjm357** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 8:02 pm

Honestly I havent even gotten far enough to answer most of those questions, I'm just starting to learn about this. What can you recommend?

cyberskye · Post by **cyberskye** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 8:07 pm

I would recommend a *nix box. That has a steep learning curve though.

I've heard memebers of this board recommend proftp.

I might sugest a post in the software forum asking for advice on specific ftp software.

From what I have read about your situation, ftp sounds like the best solution.

I asked about backups, because folks love to put warez and other illegal software on hijacked ftp servers. Backups keep you from losing too much data.

Secure Shell on a unix/linux/bsd box would be the best solution.

Skye

hjm357 · Post by **hjm357** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 8:22 pm

so if I put the server software on the computer that currently only plays MP3s, but does not actually have any of the files we would be accessing, would that provide a certain buffer? would it then be possible to provide access to files on the other 6 computers in the house?

cyberskye · Post by **cyberskye** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 8:55 pm

would that provide a certain buffer?

Nope. Anytime you run a public accessible server you are running a risk. Backups, to me, become a necessity.

Skye

Stu · Post by **Stu** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 5:22 am

I'd dump the ftp server idea altogether, too many security issues--unless you already know how to deal with bounce attacks and crackers using ftp redirects. It's too much of a headache, in my opinion.

Instead, as mentioned earlier (kind of), you can run a SSH server on the "server" and download and upload files using scp (secure copy) or sftp (secure ftp). You can get a "not for commercial use" copy of SSH (both client and server) that will run on Windows at http://www.ssh.com/support/downloads/ and if your college doesn't have SSH clients installed on their machines (which I would be surprised if they didn't have them installed on them) you can use PuTTY on a floppy to access your files.

cyberskye · Post by **cyberskye** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 9:35 am

ssh server on windows? Seems a contradiction in terms