Geek Alert!
I have a client who insists that their perimeter controls are enough, and they blithely use telnet inside their network. I prefer to uses SSH wherever it is possible. It’s a doddle to set up under Ubuntu (my current laptop config), but the client is M$ shop so here is what I suggested to them.
freeSSHd like it’s name says, is a free implementation of an SSH server. It provides strong encryption and authentication over insecure networks like Internet. Users can open remote console or even access their remote files thanks to built-in SFTP server.
It runs on NT / 2000 / XP based operating systems, starting from Windows NT version 4.0. There are no special hardware requirements, any computer that can run WinNT will be sufficient. freeSSHd uses very low amount of resources, but you must keep in mind the memory consumption of applications that your remote users will use and number of users as well.
Over at Geek Pit, there is a post about how you can tighen up SSH, check out Five-Minutes to a More Secure SSH
Here is a quick way to drastically improve the security of your OpenSSH server installations. Apart from past flaws in the OpenSSH daemon itself that have allowed remote compromise (very rare), most break-ins result from successful brute-force attacks. You can see them in your firewall, system or auth logs, they are an extremely common form of attack.
And here is a secure way to use it
Socialist Sushi » portaPuTTY
portaPuTTY is a hacked version of PuTTY that stores all its information in files, not in the registry. It was made so we could all have a good SSH client to run from a USB drive. (Memo to self. Get bigger USB thingy) Other than that, it’s the PuTTY you know and love.