14.12 Authentication Types

CCNP RS 300-101, Securing Cisco Routers, Uncategorized

There are two types of authentication that can be configured for routing protocols:

  • Simple password authentication
    • Router sends a packet and key
    • Keys are checked to see if they match
    • Process is not secure; it uses cleartext
  • Hashing authentication
    • Router creates a message digest based on the hashed value of the key and the packet sent
    • The message digest is sent with the routing protocol packet
    • Key is not sent, only the hash value for authentication
    • This does not provide confidentiality; it hashes the key but does not encrypt the contents of the routing protocol packet itself
    • Authentication is secure

MD5 and SHA authentication types are used for hash-based authentication.

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