Anyway currently I'm using a shared server which has a firewall and ssh key authentication setup. I haven't opened up the telnet port to the world just yet due to reading a lot of posts about telnet not being secure.
Looking at the wiki and forums on the internet etc I see you can use Synchronet with ssh. The problem is though I've got rsa keys setup, so my server only allows them.
Soydemadrid wrote to All <=-
Anyway currently I'm using a shared server which has a firewall and ssh key authentication
setup. I haven't opened up the telnet port to the world just yet due to reading a lot of
posts about telnet not being secure.
Looking at the wiki and forums on the internet etc I see you can use Synchronet with ssh.
The problem is though I've got rsa keys setup, so my server only allows them.
I don't know how this would work with connecting to synchronet or how
to go about getting it
working. If it did work, would that then mean that 8bit computers I'm wanting to use to
connect to it would also not work with their bbs software and such?
I've enabled most of the tips (or disabled!) that are in the Hardening Synchronet wiki page.
But I just wanted to check with you guys how to ideally get things set
up so I can still use
Synchronet on my shared vps server without it harming stuff I have on there and other sites,
ssh for the server, imap email and all the other bits and bobs.
Maybe it is safe enough to open up Telnet to the world??
Anyway currently I'm using a shared server which has a firewall and ssh key authentication setup. I haven't opened up the telnet port to the world just yet due to reading a lot of posts about telnet not being secure.
Anyway currently I'm using a shared server which has a firewall and
ssh key authentication setup. I haven't opened up the telnet port to
the world just yet due to reading a lot of posts about telnet not
being secure.
I don't think I'd worry too much about using telnet with your BBS. Everything with telnet is done in the clear, so potentially someone
could watch communication to your BBS and get things like users'
passwords as they're entered, but I don't think many people would be interested in getting such sensitive data from a BBS.
I thought about putting emphasis on SSH for my BBS, but I doubt many
users would care enough to switch to SSH. If you only allow SSH on
your BBS, you might get a lot fewer callers than if you also allowed telnet.
Synchronet uses its own SSH server, so the RSA keys are irrelevant. You will
need to have Synchronet use a different port to your regular SSH server, however, because it is an independent service. Users connect to the Synchronet
SSH port, and log in with their username and password.
Re: Help with Security and BBS setup
By: mark lewis to Nightfox on Tue Feb 27 2018 04:15 am
Hi thanks, well with my server not mainly being for the BBS my best bet it seems IS to open up Telnet on a non-default port along with ssh and rlogin (all also on non-default ports). So that should be fine and then I can at least login via ssh to protect my passwords and such even if the users don't...
Does that sound about right?
Re: Re: Help with Security and BBS setup
By: Tony Langdon to Soydemadrid on Tue Feb 27 2018 08:49 am
Synchronet uses its own SSH server, so the RSA keys are irrelevant. You will
need to have Synchronet use a different port to your regular SSH server, however, because it is an independent service. Users connect to the Synchronet
SSH port, and log in with their username and password.
Hi thanks. Well I've opened up telnet to the world and it is working great, albeit I'm using custom ports for telnet, rlogin and ssh just in case. That should be fine. Thanks for the tips.
SSH (and rlogin) I am having a problem with. When I set their custom ports in sbbs.ini as well as having options=ALLOW_SSH (or whatever the correct syntax
is in there, I just quote from approx memory!!) - then I can't see the ports listening when I check netstat. Telnet is listening and setting on the custom port no problem at all. But the other two ports aren't listed...
When I try ssh in on that custom port too, well just nothing happens. I've opened up my server firewall on those custom ports and can't see anything in the logs. So I think the problem is synchronet not binding or setting up those services.
Anyone know what to check or how to fix this please?
Thanks again for getting me going. I only used BBSes as a kid when I was about 7, so even if I knew anything back then I've sinced forgotten what I did or what I was doing haha! Great to be back though.
I don't think I'd worry too much about using telnet with your BBS. Everything with telnet is done in the clear, so potentially someone could watch communication to your BBS and get things like users' passwords as they're entered, but I don't think many people would be interested in getting such sensitive data from a BBS.
I'm not a fan of non-default ports. I think using non-default ports creates one extra hurdle for users, if you care about attracting them. <shrug>
I agree this isn't a real concern for the BBS community. But I'm all for people having secure systems, too.
Simulant wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
Hi thanks. Well I've opened up telnet to the world and it is working great, albeit I'm using custom ports for telnet, rlogin and ssh just in case. That should be fine. Thanks for the tips.
SSH (and rlogin) I am having a problem with. When I set their custom
ports in sbbs.ini as well as having options=ALLOW_SSH (or whatever the correct syntax is in there, I just quote from approx memory!!) - then I can't see the ports listening when I check netstat. Telnet is listening and setting on the custom port no problem at all. But the other two
ports aren't listed...
Thanks again for getting me going. I only used BBSes as a kid when I
was about 7, so even if I knew anything back then I've sinced forgotten what I did or what I was doing haha! Great to be back though.
Oh and yeah I don't think any 8bit users (my target users) will ever
use ssh, but at least we can then all use it on our modern machines as
an option...
for people having secure systems, too.
I am too.. Security is important, and I'd think people would benefit from using SSH, but it seems to me the majority of the BBS world still uses telnet by default.
Also, how do I edit the main welcome graphic?
What does Synchronet's error log say? That might give some clue as to why it's
not working. Are the SSH and rlogin ports > 1024? If not, try a higher port
number.
Re: Re: Help with Security and BBS setup
By: Tony Langdon to Simulant on Wed Feb 28 2018 01:41 pm
What does Synchronet's error log say? That might give some clue as to why it's
not working. Are the SSH and rlogin ports > 1024? If not, try a higher port
number.
Thanks again for helping. I've checked the /var/log/sbbs.log I setup when I first installed Synchronet and there are a few funky things in there...
synchronet: srvc 0034 !ERROR 98 binding JSON socket to port 10088
seems to be in there a fair bit, but then later on after some of those it does say: srvc 0000 JSON JSON client initialized (v1.29) - so maybe that gets there in the end?
I also get this error, which is maybe something to do with ssh not working: term SSH cryptGetPrivateKey failure
Perhaps that also stops rLogin too??
Simulant wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
Re: Re: Help with Security and BBS setup
By: Tony Langdon to Simulant on Wed Feb 28 2018 01:41 pm
What does Synchronet's error log say? That might give some clue as to why i
t's
not working. Are the SSH and rlogin ports > 1024? If not, try a higher por
t
number.
Thanks again for helping. I've checked the /var/log/sbbs.log I setup
when I first installed Synchronet and there are a few funky things in there...
synchronet: srvc 0034 !ERROR 98 binding JSON socket to port 10088
seems to be in there a fair bit, but then later on after some of those
it does say: srvc 0000 JSON JSON client initialized (v1.29) - so maybe that gets there in the end?
I also get this error, which is maybe something to do with ssh not working: term SSH cryptGetPrivateKey failure
Perhaps that also stops rLogin too?? I set the custom ports for rlogin
as 664 and ssh as 6128 - the only reason being so that they're easy to remember and those ports seemed to be free.
664 for an Amstrad CPC 8bit computer model number, and the CPC6128 is
the 128k 3" floppy disk model. So I thought they were cool ports to
use, with Telnet on port 464 too, for the CPC464 haha. Nice little
in-joke when connecting for the Amstrad users I'm aiming the BBS
towards.
I'm not a fan of non-default ports. I think using non-default ports createsone
extra hurdle for users, if you care about attracting them. <shrug>
Re: Help with Security and BBS setup
By: Digital Man to Simulant on Tue Feb 27 2018 09:56 am
I'm not a fan of non-default ports. I think using non-default ports createsone
extra hurdle for users, if you care about attracting them. <shrug>
Yes I can understand. I may try get back to defaults if I can, unfortunately I might be stuck with non-standard ports if I have to leave services running on the same server using the defaults... Hopefully in future I can move the BBS to its own server too and go all default, that'd be great. I'm still just finding my feet - is it easy enought to move server or domain/host address later on with an existing running BBS?
Another query I had if I do stick to non-default ports is the SBBS list you run. Obviously it would be fantastic to stay listed in that directory to hopefully attract users, but how do I get the list to use the non-standard ports?
tI also get this error, which is maybe something to do with ssh not working: term SSH cryptGetPrivateKey failure
That sounds like a possibility.
Perhaps that also stops rLogin too?? I set the custom ports for rlogin as 664 and ssh as 6128 - the only reason being so that they're easy to remember and those ports seemed to be free.
664 for an Amstrad CPC 8bit computer model number, and the CPC6128 is the 128k 3" floppy disk model. So I thought they were cool ports to use, with Telnet on port 464 too, for the CPC464 haha. Nice little in-joke when connecting for the Amstrad users I'm aiming the BBS towards.
So, telnet is working on 464?
I am having some difficulty, because you never indicated whether you had roo
access or not.
Re: Help with Security and BBS setup
By: Simulant to All on Wed Feb 28 2018 07:59 am
Also, how do I edit the main welcome graphic?
I think you mean text/menu/logon.asc?
Ttyl :-),
Al
... When I am right nobody remembers - When I am wrong nobody forgets!
But yeah telnet seems to be working fine on port 464 but can't figure out what that ssh cyrptgetprivatekey error is. Am I supposed to set up some keys for Synchronet somehow? Or edit a config file to point to some or such?
Simulant wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
Hi sorry yes I should of said, I do have root access to the server.
It's shared so other services on there have to remain in place (at
least for now) so email, ssh etc on default ports... So I'm running
with those custom ports for now.
But yeah telnet seems to be working fine on port 464 but can't figure
out what that ssh cyrptgetprivatekey error is. Am I supposed to set up some keys for Synchronet somehow? Or edit a config file to point to
some or such?
Re: Re: Help with Security and BBS setupeys
By: Simulant to Tony Langdon on Thu Mar 01 2018 09:12 am
But yeah telnet seems to be working fine on port 464 but can't figure out what that ssh cyrptgetprivatekey error is. Am I supposed to set up some k
on.for Synchronet somehow? Or edit a config file to point to some or such?
Synchronet (cryptlib) will auto-generate the private key during initializati
You can try deleting the key file (ctrl/cryptlib.key) and see if that fixesthe
problem.
digital man
Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #17:
DSL = Digital Subscriber Line
Norco, CA WX: 55.1oF, 60.0% humidity, 0 mph WSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
I tried installing the latest version from source but the build complains of a missing syncterm.man.in file. So I'm stuck using teh 0.9.5b version. I'm not sure if that makes a difference, or if even the 1.0 would do this?
Is there something else I need to do with ssh to get it working right?
Something weird going on. Given your userbase, I'm guessing SSH won't be hugely important in any case, but it would be good to sort it.
Simulant wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
digital man has fixed it, I just had to delete the cryptkey file! Now everything seems to be working which is great!
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