OpenSSH project is a FREE version of the SSH protocol suite of network connectivity tools that increasing numbers of people on the Internet are coming to rely on. Many users of telnet, rlogin, ftp, and other such programs might not realize that their password is transmitted across the Internet unencrypted, but it is.

OpenSSH encrypts all traffic (including passwords) to effectively eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other network-level attacks. Additionally, OpenSSH provides a myriad of secure tunneling capabilities, as well as a variety of authentication methods.

The OpenSSH suite includes the ssh program which replaces rlogin and telnet, scp which replaces rcp, and sftp which replaces ftp. Also included is sshd which is the server side of the package, and the other basic utilities like ssh-add, ssh-agent, ssh-keysign, ssh-keyscan, ssh-keygen and sftp-server. OpenSSH supports SSH protocol versions 1.3, 1.5, and 2.0.

Here are some key features of "OpenSSH":

· Open Source Project
· Free Licensing
· Strong Encryption (3DES, Blowfish, AES, Arcfour)
· X11 Forwarding (encrypt X Window System traffic)
· Port Forwarding (encrypted channels for legacy protocols)
· Strong Authentication (Public Key, One-Time Password and Kerberos Authentication)
· Agent Forwarding (Single-Sign-On)
· Interoperability (Compliance with SSH 1.3, 1.5, and 2.0 protocol Standards)
· SFTP client and server support in both SSH1 and SSH2 protocols.
· Kerberos and AFS Ticket Passing
· Data Compression