how to access machine using telnet

[Ewan Mac Mahon]

On Thu, Aug 31, 2006 at 10:16:56AM +0900, Craig Hagerman wrote:
> On 8/31/06, Felipe Alfaro Solana <felipe.alfaro at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Telnet is dangerous. So, we recommend you to go with SSH:
> 
> I think it is kind of funny the way everyone predictably pops up with
> a reflex reaction giving warnings about telnet and redirecting the
> poster to ssh every time any topic on telnet comes up (on any mailing
> list). Run away! run away! Telnet is dangerous!
> 
<snip> 
> In my case (some time ago) I was dealing with a headless server I was
> set up on the other side of the world. (I live in Japan - server was
> in Canada) I wanted telnetd to be running, but not used except as a
> backup way to get in if sshd failed to work. (Which had happened once
> after changing the config file.)

I think I remember that thread. If it's the one I'm thinking of I
suggested setting up a separate instance of ssh with a different config
file to run on a different port. That would give you your backup plan
without the hazards of running a telnet server.

Telnet is bad because:
- It's unencrypted,
- It only uses passwords, not keys,
- No-one uses it any more, which means security bugs could easily be
  missed. OpenSSH is looked after by the paranoiacs at OpenBSD.

Everyone focusses on the first reason against, but in practice the other
two are probably more important.

Ewan
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