ssh with x11 and ftp in bt5

Hey all,

Well it's been a while and now university is done with and I've had time to play with BT5 (which is the all new and shiny backtrack) its time for a blog post 8-).

Right, so the concept is similar to remote desktop but you only have a shell. This is also secure, well as secure as you can make it.

This allows you to connect to one pc and run scripts, tool kits and programs from the a second.
The programs are still running on the first backtrack machine, just accessible from the second machine.
This is useful if you are out and about doing work/pentesting and need the power of the second machine.

Other than this, its useful for internet cafe usage as it will allow you to browse more securely.

The steps;

sshd-generate
/etc/init.d/ssh start
update-rc.d ssh defaults
ifconfig

This is all of the configuration 'needed', however, it's possible to use techniques such as fail2ban, setting different ports on the router or simply changing the port on backtrack of ssh. Ifconfig just checks the internal I.P. update-rc adds ssh to start up, which is not needed but will stop you typing /etc/init.d... every time.

Windows steps;

Download and install putty or just grab xming server as I believe putty is in there.
If you want secure ftp grab filezila.

Run all the installers and then open up putty.

Insert the I.P. either internal or external.
Enable x11 forwarding tab under SSH and type localhost:0
Click open to connect.
Hit in the user name and password, *This may take some time.*
and that should be it, if the x11 is working you should get visual programs like firefox etc.

For ftp make sure the port 22, which is default for ssh, is selected.
Biggest point here *If you are doing this across the internets make sure you have a long password and think about changing the port or implementing fail2ban.*

Video here:
ssh in bt5

Also on YouTube, watch it in 720p for clarity

Cheers
2neon