When your Windows Server has the openssh installed, our solution can make remote login accounts on it well protected

Question

You must disable all other remote login services and make the SSH server only accept public key authentication.

Our software for Linux can make SSH remote login more secure. Using our method, the SSH private key's passphrase is encrypted and saved on the machine. The user can then only use our privilege delegation software CaclMgr to remote log in to his/her own account on the remote machine; no SSH private key passphrase needs to be known by the user.

Answer 1

Hello,

Can you elaborate on this further so that I can understand your needs?Do you want to use third-party software instead of Windows OpenSSH encryption?

From Microsoft's perspective，Windows OpenSSH offers several security advantages in the area of authentication, which enhance the overall security of SSH connections. Here are the key points:

1. Support for Multiple Secure Authentication Methods

Public/Private Key Pair Authentication: This is the recommended authentication method by OpenSSH. It uses asymmetric encryption with public and private keys, avoiding the risks associated with traditional password authentication.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): OpenSSH supports various multi-factor authentication methods, such as one-time passwords (OTPs) or hardware tokens, which significantly enhance the security of the authentication process.

Certificate-Based Authentication: OpenSSH supports authentication using certificates, which can be managed by a Certificate Authority (CA). This is particularly useful in environments where high security is required.

2. Newer versions of OpenSSH include mechanisms to check password strength, preventing users from setting weak passwords and thus improving the security of password authentication.
3. Using directives such as AllowUsers, AllowGroups, DenyUsers, and DenyGroups, administrators can precisely control which users and groups are allowed to access the SSH service.

Password authentication can be completely disabled, enforcing the use of key pairs or other more secure authentication methods.

4. OpenSSH uses strong encryption algorithms (such as AES, ChaCha20, etc.) to encrypt data transfers, preventing data from being intercepted or tampered with during transmission.

5.Windows 10 and Windows Server versions have built-in OpenSSH client and server support, eliminating the need for additional third-party software.

OpenSSH can be easily configured and managed using simple command-line tools such as PowerShell.

6.OpenSSH provides detailed logging capabilities to monitor SSH connection activities and detect any suspicious behavior.

Tools like fail2ban can be integrated to automate monitoring and prevent brute-force attacks.

These features make Windows OpenSSH highly secure in terms of authentication, effectively preventing unauthorized access and data leakage risks.

References:

OpenSSH for Windows 中基于密钥的身份验证 | Microsoft Learn

I hope this information helps.

Best regards,

Jingjing Wu