Port 21 - File Transfer Protocol
Port 22 - SSH Remote Login Protocol
Port 23 - Telnet Server
Port 25 - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
Port 53 - Domain Name Server (DNS)
Port 69 - Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
Port 70 - Gopher
Port 80 - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
Port 110 - Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3)
Telnet can be used to connect to virtually any machine that listens on ports. In other words, you can connect to any machine that has certain ports open. Once connected to a machine, you need to issue unix based commands to interact with the remote service. For example, a user don't need to login, check and send mails only through his email service provider's interface but this can be achieved using simple telnet commands. It is because of this reason that many hackers can send spoofed emails or access information such as which services are running on the remote machine. This is also called banner grabbing or daemon tracking. Black hat hackers can also use telnet to sniff network packets which might contain sensitive information such as usernames and passwords. This is achieved by using telnet and network utilities such as tcpdump and wireshark.
Telnet client and server functionality comes built-in in most operating systems. However, there are several third-party applications like putty client that enable remote connectivity. A user can connect to a remote machine through several access modes such as raw access, SSH access, etc. SSH mode offers encryption and security and hence can prevent eavesdropping by hackers. This is by far the most secure way of connecting to a machine. However, it is necessary that the remote machine supports SSH login to make use of the encryption and security features.
On windows machines, telnet client can simply be started by issuing the telnet command in windows command shell. The following example would help you connect to a remote machine on the HTTP Port 80 and issue a GET command which would fetch a file as your web browser does it behind scenes:
Command Prompt> Telnet
Command Prompt> open (somedomain.com or ip address) 80
At this stage, you would be connected to somedomain.com or ip address on port 80 and the daemon that is running on port 80 (most probably HTTP Server) would be waiting for HTTP requests.
GET / HTTP/1.1
host: somedomain.com (or ip address)
Port 110 - Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3)
Telnet can be used to connect to virtually any machine that listens on ports. In other words, you can connect to any machine that has certain ports open. Once connected to a machine, you need to issue unix based commands to interact with the remote service. For example, a user don't need to login, check and send mails only through his email service provider's interface but this can be achieved using simple telnet commands. It is because of this reason that many hackers can send spoofed emails or access information such as which services are running on the remote machine. This is also called banner grabbing or daemon tracking. Black hat hackers can also use telnet to sniff network packets which might contain sensitive information such as usernames and passwords. This is achieved by using telnet and network utilities such as tcpdump and wireshark.
Telnet client and server functionality comes built-in in most operating systems. However, there are several third-party applications like putty client that enable remote connectivity. A user can connect to a remote machine through several access modes such as raw access, SSH access, etc. SSH mode offers encryption and security and hence can prevent eavesdropping by hackers. This is by far the most secure way of connecting to a machine. However, it is necessary that the remote machine supports SSH login to make use of the encryption and security features.
On windows machines, telnet client can simply be started by issuing the telnet command in windows command shell. The following example would help you connect to a remote machine on the HTTP Port 80 and issue a GET command which would fetch a file as your web browser does it behind scenes:
Command Prompt> Telnet
Command Prompt> open (somedomain.com or ip address) 80
At this stage, you would be connected to somedomain.com or ip address on port 80 and the daemon that is running on port 80 (most probably HTTP Server) would be waiting for HTTP requests.
GET / HTTP/1.1
host: somedomain.com (or ip address)
Issuing the command above would make the HTTP Server return the file requested, in this case it would be the default file at the root location. You can find some additional basic telnet commands at the Microsoft Technet library -http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c.aspx
Most applications and embedded devices make use of the telnet technology to connect to remote server machines and provide end user functionality. The most common use of telnet stands to enable remote authentication and access.
