The Journal of Science and Engineering Applications (JSEA)

Abstract

Kerberos is a widely used authentication protocol that provides secure access to network resources by 
authenticating users and services. This paper provides an overview of the Kerberos protocol, its history, 
and its steps. The Kerberos protocol was initially developed at MIT in the 1980s to solve the problem of 
authentication in distributed systems. It has since become a widely adopted protocol in enterprise networks 
and is implemented in many operating systems and applications. This paper outlines the steps involved in 
the Kerberos protocol, including authentication, authorization, and ticket granting. It also covers the 
security features of the protocol, including encryption, mutual authentication, and delegation. The research 
on Kerberos protocol has mainly focused on improving its security, scalability, and usability. Various 
researchers have proposed different enhancements to the Kerberos protocol to address its weaknesses, such 
as using stronger encryption algorithms, improving the key distribution process, and implementing 
additional security features. Furthermore, this paper discusses the most important attacks on the Kerberos 
protocol, such as the Golden Ticket attack, Password guessing attacks and Replay attacks. These attacks 
exploit vulnerabilities in the protocol to gain unauthorized access to network resources or impersonate users or services. The paper also presents the countermeasures and mitigations that can be employed to 
prevent these attacks and improve the overall security of the Kerberos protocol.