Key facts
- Developer
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Initial release
- 24 January 1989 ( 1989-01-24 ) (version 4)
- Stable release
- 1.22.2 / 30 January 2026 ; 4 months ago ( 30 January 2026 )
- Written in
- C
- Operating system
- Cross-platform
- Type
- Authentication protocol
- Website
- web .mit .edu /kerberos /
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Official website
- web.mit.edu/kerberos
Show 4 more facts
- port
- 88
- Stack Exchange tag
- stackoverflow.com/tags/kerberos
- Commons category
- Kerberos
- software version identifier
- 1.14.6
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~18 min read
Article
Kerberos (/ˈkɜːrbərɒs/) is a computer-network authentication protocol that works on the basis of tickets to allow nodes communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. Its designers aimed it primarily at a client–server model, and it provides mutual authentication—both the user and the server verify each other's identity. Kerberos protocol messages are protected against eavesdropping and replay attacks.
Kerberos builds on symmetric-key cryptography and requires a trusted third party, and optionally may use public-key cryptography during certain phases of authentication. Kerberos uses UDP port 88 by default.
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