Chapter 59. What Is Kerberos?

Kerberos is a network authentication protocol based on conventional cryptography; that is to say, it relies on symmetrical cryptographic algorithms that use the same key for encryption as for decryption (Ferguson and Schneier 2003). Network authentication protocols do two things: help you discover who is on the other end of the wire, and help you and your peer exchange a cryptographic key (also known as a session key) so you can maintain integrity and confidentiality protection for the ensuing conversation. What follows is a simplified description of Kerberos that will help you understand what's going on under the hood in Windows.

Kerberos gets its name from the mythological three-headed dog that guards the entrance ...

Get The .NET Developer's Guide to Windows Security now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.