FreeBSD® Unleashed

Problems with Cleartext Services

It may seem that your transmissions between your client machine and the server (in applications such as Telnet, e-mail, and HTTP) are secure; after all, your passwords are hidden (or at least, they seem to be), and everything travels in tiny packets of data that flow out onto the network along with so many millions of other tiny packets that it might seem silly to think that someone could have the patience to apply the networking equivalent of a wiretap and piece together the fragments of an interesting transaction. They'd have to be on the same network segment as your LAN or the LAN at the opposite end, or at some trunk service provider along the way—and they'd have to possess stealth and equipment befitting ...