Kerberos is a network authentication protocol designed to
provide strong authentication for client/server applications by
using secret-key cryptography. It was developed at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology as part of Project Athena in the mid-1980s.
Project Athena's mandate was to explore diverse uses of computing
and to build the knowledge base needed for longer-term strategic
decisions about how computers fit into the MIT curriculum.
Starting with Version 7.3-1, HP provides Kerberos as part
of the OpenVMS Alpha operating system. Kerberos is compatible with
OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2-2 and higher, and OpenVMS VAX Version
7.3 and higher.
Until Kerberos V4, this technology was not available to the
general public. Prior versions were for only internal Project Athena
use. Kerberos V5, the current implementation, is the first commercial-ready
release.
The Kerberos protocol uses strong cryptography, so that a
client can prove its identity to a server (and vice versa) across
an insecure network connection. After a client and server have used
Kerberos to prove their identity, they can also encrpt all of their
communications to assure privacy and data integrity.
For more information about Kerberos, see HP Open
Source Security for OpenVMS, Volume 3: Kerberos or the Kerberos
for OpenVMS web site at
HP OpenVMS Guide to System Security
Security Overview
