How To Maintain Security Among Routers
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008Getting the most out of router security is important for securing one’s network. It helps keep a networking running smoothly and without problem. Computer network technicians will do good to remember two commands in particular: enable secret and enable password.
There are a total of five different commands that can be used in regards to the different passwords that can be secured. The first to review is the command “Enable password.” This command is an outdated form, although it is still in use among older routers and with those who haven’t upgraded their IOS. Enable password in particular is flawed because it uses no encryption to store the password in question.
For those who favor encryption, and we all should, computer network technicians should instead opt for the enable secret command. Enable secret is a command introduced in more recent years for storing the password required to get into privileged mode in encryption. This encryption comes in handy in several cases, with notable benefit to be seen in the running configuration.
Gaining access to a Cisco router’s running configuration is easy. Use the running configuration command to bring up the currently stored settings of the router. If both enable password and enable secret were used, administrators can see that enable password is readable for all to see! The enable secret password that comes after it is unreadable, as it is stored as an MD5 encrypted text.
The enable secret command is the better password handling command, although enable password is still able to be used. Cisco router operating systems before version 10.3, the enable password is the only command that is able to be used. In such a case, it’s important for computer network technicians to upgrade to the latest IOS version for better security.
In Conclusion
Cisco routers aren’t a safety hazard by any means, but updating to the latest IOS version and taking advantage of newer commands such as “Enable secret” is the best bet in keeping the computer network up and running for months to come without hassle. For further information, consult Cicso articles and other Internet resources to learn how to actually go about the process of using Enable secret.
