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1.4. Why use it?

The OpenSSH suite consists of several tools, which replace older, more insecure tools, as shown in the following table:

Table 1.1. OpenSSH tool replacements

Old ToolReplacement
rlogin, telnetssh
rcpscp
ftpsftp
The above table shows the main networking tools provided by the OpenSSH suite. The older tools in the above table are much less secure as they transmit credentials (such as username and password) in clear text over the network or Internet. These details could potentially be extracted from the data stream and leave the hosts vulnerable to unauthorized access. The encrypted data streams in the OpenSSH tools listed in the table provide an extra layer of security to protecting network details by encrypting the entire transmission, including passwords. This is an important attribute when transmitting credentials over a network, and especially over an untrusted network (such as the Internet).