Users have the ability to connect to a computer remotely. They can do this by using certain protocols, like RDP, FTP, and others. However, these older protocols are not recommended anymore as they are less safe and a bit outdated. What people will refer to as a great alternative is SSH, a new protocol that’s often praised for its better security.
Usually, people would use SSH to be connected to another different device remotely. You can say that it acts as a bridge to connect two devices using the same channeled connection. That’s why we can consider it to be a safer option as it can establish a more secure connection between devices.
On MacOS, you can also find the feature although it was not enabled by default. So for those who want to use SSH to make a secure connection with their macOS devices, we’ve prepared some steps you need to do right below!
SSH and VPN: Are They The Same?
We’ve heard there are some people who said that VPNs and SSH work in the same way, which is using a channeled connection that can make the user more safe. However, it’s far from reality. As the connection is really secure, some people would say that you’ll have to disable your VPN on Mac. But that’s not the case here. SSH, even without a VPN, can make a secure connection. Therefore, we don’t see any point in using a VPN on SSH.
VPN is recommended when you work depending on the connection provided by your ISP alone, without any protection. Aside from the security, the steps to install a VPN are always considered easy.
What Is SSH?
SSH is a useful protocol for securing device login administrators with more secure protection even in unsecured networks.
Apart from that, SSH is able to secure it from even very long distances. SSH also provides very strong password and public key authentication, as well as encrypted communication between two computers over the internet network. It’s kinda similar to device connections to VPN.
In addition to providing strong encryption, SSH is often used by remote network administrators.
In this way, administrators can access other computers via the network, execute commands, or can also move files from one computer to another.
So far, the existence of SSH has been able to replace the role of Telnet which is still considered less secure. The reason is, by using SSH, every connection and communication between the client and server will be encrypted.
SSH Client
SSH Client is an application used to connect the operating system on a device to a server. The SSH client application that is quite popular is PuTTY, which also supports the Windows operating system.
SSH will make the connection between the client and server secure using port 22. After authenticating both, data exchange can be carried out safely. Well, this is very similar to when you’re trying to access a website that has an SSL certificate installed. Therefore, the protocol has changed to HTTPS and uses port 443.
Meanwhile, if you use telnet or rlogin, the analogy is like when you visit a website that is still HTTP and still uses port 80. If you are still using telnet, rlogin, and so on, switching to using SSH is a very good alternative.
This is because SSH’s ability to secure the network is equipped with three types of encryption at once, namely symmetric, asymmetric, and hashing encryption.
How Does It Work
The way SSH works uses a client and server model, where the connection will be initiated by the SSH client to the SSH server. SSH clients can contact SSH servers using an application called PuTTY.
Then, the SSH server sends the public key to the client and the client must have the appropriate key, namely the private key. If successful, the SSH client and server can identify and verify each other, and then initiate a secure connection. The encryption on the connection is the same thing VPN can provide, aside from hiding some information.
When finished, the client will get access permission to enter the server and transmit data. SSH uses strong symmetric encryption and hashing algorithms to ensure the privacy and integrity of data being exchanged between the client and server.
How to Use SSH on macOS
Now, you know how important it is to access servers via SSH, especially for those who manage servers remotely. SSH will make data communication between the server and our devices more secure. That way, we can avoid what is called data theft.
And yes, we can use SSH on all kinds of OS, including Mac. The way to access the server via SSH on Mac OS is not much different from other OS. However, this time we will access the server using the Terminal application on our computer’s Launchpad, which is the easiest method you can do
Follow the steps below:
1. Open The Terminal
Open the Terminal application on our Mac.
2. Put Down The Command
Access the server via SSH by running the command # ssh <user>@<IP_server>. Use your respective user name and IP address.
3. Click Enter
Press Enter once
4. See The Message
A display message that welcomes you is proof that the activation is successful.
