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Kerberos (ˈkɜːrbərɒs) is a computer-network authentication protocol that works on the basis of tickets to allow nodes communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. Its designers aimed it primarily at a client–server model, and it provides mutual authentication—both the user and the server verify each other's identity. Kerberos protocol messages are protected against eavesdropping and replay attacks. Kerberos builds on symmetric-key cryptography and requires a trusted third party, and optionally may use public-key cryptography during certain phases of authentication. Kerberos uses UDP port 88 by default. The protocol was named after the character Kerberos (or Cerberus) from Greek mythology, the ferocious three-headed guard dog of Hades. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed Kerberos in 1988 to protect network services provided by Project Athena. Its first version was primarily designed by Steve Miller and Clifford Neuman based on the earlier Needham–Schroeder symmetric-key protocol. Kerberos versions 1 through 3 were experimental and not released outside of MIT. Kerberos version 4, the first public version, was released on January 24, 1989. Since Kerberos 4 was developed in the United States, and since it used the Data Encryption Standard (DES) encryption algorithm, U.S. export control restrictions prevented it from being exported to other countries. MIT created an exportable version of Kerberos 4 with all encryption code removed, called "Bones". Eric Young of Australia's Bond University reimplemented DES into Bones, in a version called "eBones", which could be freely used in any country. Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology released another reimplementation called KTH-KRB. Neuman and John Kohl published version 5 in 1993 with the intention of overcoming existing limitations and security problems. Version 5 appeared as RFC 1510, which was then made obsolete by RFC 4120 in 2005. In 2005, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Kerberos working group updated specifications.

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