SSHtunneling

SSHtunneling, also known as SSH tunneling or SSH port forwarding, is a method of creating an encrypted connection between a local computer and a remote computer over the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. This encrypted connection can then be used to forward network traffic from one computer to another.

There are three main types of SSH tunneling: local, remote, and dynamic. Local port forwarding allows traffic from a local port on your machine to be forwarded to a remote host. This is useful for accessing services on a remote network that are not directly exposed to the internet. Remote port forwarding enables traffic from a port on the remote SSH server to be forwarded to a local port on your machine. This is often used to allow external access to a service running behind a firewall. Dynamic port forwarding creates a SOCKS proxy on your local machine, allowing you to route various types of network traffic through the SSH connection to the remote server.

The primary benefit of SSH tunneling is security. By encrypting the traffic, it protects sensitive data from being intercepted or read by unauthorized parties, especially when traversing untrusted networks. It can also be used to bypass firewalls or access resources that are geographically restricted. Setting up an SSH tunnel typically involves using an SSH client, such as OpenSSH, and specifying the source and destination ports and hosts.