Research Paper on:
Windows 2000 and Kerberos Authentication Protocol

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
of Technology (MIT) explains that the "Internet is an insecure place" (Kerberos: The Network Authentication Protocol, 2002) and that many of the protocols used in the Internet provide no security  at all. The result is that "applications which send an unencrypted password over the network are extremely vulnerable" (Kerberos: The Network Authentication Protocol, 2002). Other client/server applications operate  on the premise that the client program is honest about the identity of the current user, but the reality of that premise becomes increasingly apparent with increasing incidents of fraudulent  misrepresentation. The purpose here is to form a team to research emerging Kerberos implementations and their value to Windows 2000 Server users. What It Is  Kerberos is a protocol named for the "three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to Hades" (Kerberos FAQ, 2002). It is a network authentication protocol designed to  "provide strong authentication for client/server applications by using secret-key cryptography" (Kerberos FAQ, 2002). Available free from MIT, "Kerberos is available in many commercial products as well" (Kerberos FAQ, 2002).  Kerberos is more effective in thwarting active efforts to foil authentication methods than are those systems that use public-key encryption. Those who  seek to misrepresent their identity or to masquerade as another user only need access to public-key encryption codes to gain access to the counterpart to the public key being used  by a specific application. Kerberos greatly increases the difficulty of locating and using the key counterpart simply by using a secret key, rather than a public one.  The "key" on which encryption is based is analogous to spy novels code words. The application provides a statement that requires an answer, which