Secure Shell Using WebSockets

Mock SSH using websockets with encryption.

SSH, also known as Secure Shell, is a network protocol that provides administrators with a secure way to access a remote servers. SSH establishes a cryptographically secured connection between two parties(client and server), authenticating each side to the other, and passing commands and output back and forth.

For our project we have implemented a simple SSH using websockets, with the server written in Python and the client in Javascript. User and password authentication is also implemented. The password is encrypted before sending and hashed before storing.

Network Concepts Used

1. Web sockets
2. Socket programming
3. Symmetric key encryption
4. Web socket handshaking

Main Modules Developed

Server:

1. feed : To accept messages from the client and to perform TCP handshaking on first contact.
2. sendMessage : To send a message to the client
3. validate_username : To verify that the user is registered in the database
4. validate_password : To decrypt the password and to check if it matches with the hashed password stored in the database
5. execute_command : To execute the command sent by the client and prepare the output to be delivered.

Client:

6. onSubmit : To send the command entered by the user to the server. Also ensures encryption of the password before sending.
7. onMessage : To output the message sent by the server, that is the result of the command sent.