[ale] Another questions in regards to ppp

[Ken Kennedy]

On Tue, Jan 22, 2002 at 07:15:12PM -0500, Chris Fowler wrote:
> I'm having a hard time figuring out how to fully utilize the pppd server for
> remoet access into my house.  Curently I use getty to answer the call.  I
> have a user setup that execute /sbin/pppd.  Can I login in as a ppps user
> with a username and password on the getty.  Execute /sbin/pppd, and then use
> chap authentication.  I'm a little concerend that chap secrest are plain
> text.

Are you saying that you're concerned that:

1) the chap-secrets file on your machine is plain text, or 

2) that "chap secrets" passed over the network are plain text? 

If it's the second you're asking about, don't worry about it. The CHAP
protocol is designed to keep your username and password from being
passed over the network "in the clear". PAP IS in the clear, but CHAP
isn't. 

If it's the first you're asking about...I'm not even sure you need the
chap-secrets file if you're the _server_. IIRC (and I may not, it's
been a LOOONG time), that's for storing your username and password
when you're using chap to login to a remote machine. And anyway, the
perms for the file should allow only root to read and write. 

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