What is keyboard authentication?

View all posts

We’ve updated an article from our Knowledgebase, that explains what is keyboard authentication and how it can be used. You can read the updated article here: What is keyboard authentication?

Keyboard authentication is an advanced form of password authentication aimed specifically at the human operator as a client. During keyboard authentication, zero or more prompts are presented to the user. The user should give the answer to each prompt.

The SSH Authentication Protocol is a part of the SSH protocol family that allows the client software to verify the authenticity of the server and also authenticate itself using various methods:

  • Public Key Authentication
  • Password Authentication
  • Host-Based Authentication
  • Keyboard Authentication
  • Authentication of Servers

In Backup4all, SSH/SFTP client components support keyboard authentication via the OnAuthenticationKeyboard event. The client application fills the Responses parameter (of the mentioned event) with replies to questions contained in the Prompts parameter. The Echo parameter specifies if the response should be displayed on screen or masked as the user types it. The number of responses must be equal to the number of prompts.

This is a summary of the full article we’ve recently updated. For a detailed explanation regarding keyboard authentication and how it can be used, you have to read the full article in our Knowledgebase: What is keyboard authentication?