SSH (Secure SHell) is possibly the best way to remotely access a Unix system - it's very secure thanks to automatic encryption of all the traffic, and it's also quite universal because you can do all sorts of things: access remote command line shell, forward graphics session output, establish network tunnels and set up port redirections.

If Ubuntu wants to be taken seriously in the workplace, it needs a secure remote desktop. Many people have a need to connect to their work computer from home using remote desktop technology. Currently, the Ubuntu Remote Desktop is a front-end for VNC, which allows you to remotely manage your desktop.

OpenVPN is a genuine secure VPN that supports both site-to-site tunnels, to create a nice secure WAN on the cheap, and remote individual clients. Eric Geier shows us how to use the Untangle gateway to set up a good stout OpenVPN server the easy way.

In a previous article, I went over some of the basic functions of ssh. In that article, I mentioned that simple remote shell access was not the most interesting thing you can do with ssh. I pointed out that remote command execution was more interesting than mundane remote shell access.

Many years ago, people used telnet to connect to their machines, but the whole communication between their computers and the remote machine was sent in clear text (unencrypted), making sensitive information available to anyone who knew how to monitor their traffic. They had to find a way to prevent this. So SSH was born.

The secure shell is much more than a simple way to keep your passwords to yourself. For instance, it's possible to tunnel ports you may not have access to (if the machine is behind a firewall) through the SSH port. SSH makes it possible to run remote graphical sessions easily. You can even securely log in without a password. SSH is a veritable Swiss Army knife of OS toys.

Zeroshell can manage simple VPNs, and more complex bonded VPNs for higher throughput and redundancy. Follow Eric Geier as he bores secure Linux VPN tunnels through the big bad Internet.

This tutorial describes how you set up a computer as a dedicated VPN server for your network. With a VPN server you can open secure data tunnels and access files and deivces in your local network (eg.

FTP communication is not secure, all communication is plain text and can be easily captured. Despite this serious weakness, few do anything to secure it. There are simple ways to correct this with VSFTPD.FTPS is also known as FTPS Secure or FTP-SSL. What FTPS does is add the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to the normal FTP on the same port 21.