authentication

Tutorial on how to set up dual layer authentication with OpenVPN. Dual layer meaning standard TLS key based authentication couple with user/pass authentication using pam plugin

SSL-based VPNs were designed to eliminate the need for complex configurations on the user's PC. Unfortunately, that was before the dangers of public WiFi networks and tougher regulatory requirements came into being. Thanks to WiFi, many attacks that were difficult are now quite simple. In particular, a man-in-the-middle attack can intercept SSL-encrypted traffic, rendering SSL-based VPNs useless - even if it is protected by a typical one-time password system. The man-in-the-middle can easily feed the one-time password into the SSL-based VPN within the alloted time.

VNC is the most popular remote access solution today. However, it was developed to provide remote access, not to provide secure remote access. Administrators have to add security to VNC by tunneling it through an encrpyted channel such as SSH and adding a layer of authentication. In this article, we will show you how to combine the NoMachine NX server to encrpyt VNC and remote X session combined with two-factor authentication from WiKID Systems to create a secure, fast remote access solution.

Auth Shadow or mod-auth-shadow is a module for apache (and apache2, sort of) that enables authentication against /etc/shadow. The benefits being that any system user with a password can be authenticated for web_dav, subversion or simply an https server. The only other way to do this is with PAM. That method is dangerous because the apache user (www-data in my case) must be able to read /etc/shadow. Obviously, not a good idea. Auth Shadow accomplishes this safely by using a intermediate program called validate. This works because validate can be owned by root but executable by everyone.