Welcome to the NICER Protocol Deep Dive blog series! When we started researching what all was out on the internet way back in January, we had no idea we'd end up with a hefty, 137-page tome of a research report. The sheer length of such a thing might put off folks who might otherwise learn a thing or two about the nature of internet exposure, so we figured, why not break up all the protocol studies into their own reports?
So, here we are! What follows is taken directly from our National / Industry / Cloud Exposure Report (NICER), so if you don't want to wait around for the next installment, you can cheat and read ahead!
Secure Shell (SSH) (TCP/22)
It’s got “secure” right in its name!
TLDR
WHAT IT IS: SSH is usually a secure alternative to Telnet, but it also can wrap virtually any protocol in a warm, comforting blanket of cryptographic security.
HOW MANY: 17,875,456 discovered nodes17,073,109 (95.5%) have Recog fingerprints (21 total service families)
VULNERABILITIES: As with Telnet, the usual exposures associated with SSH stem from default passwords and password reuse. Also, SSH tends to surface vulnerabilities present in a given operating system's cryptographic libraries.
ADVICE: Deploy SSH judiciously, and have a system in place for generating and maintaining secure passwords or private keys.
ALTERNATIVES: There are certainly alternatives to SSH, but it is free, open source, and well-maintained by a network of academic and commercial software developers. It is hard to imagine a reasonable alternative to SSH, especially given that SSH can wrap otherwise insecure protocols.
GETTING: Better? There was a 14% increase over 2019, but we’re not c ..
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