This software enhances SSH-style host authentication by using multi-path network probing technique. It helps in improving the overall security of the system.
One of the common problems users encounter while using SSH to connect to a remote machine is the "The authenticity of host 'host.domain.com' can't be established." warning message. Unfortunately, the standard SSH client provides no information to help users ascertain whether these warning messages are genuine attacks or false alarms caused by legitimate changes in keys.
That's where Perspectives comes in handy. It's a modification to the OpenSSH client software that contacts a set of network notaries to gather information that aids better security decisions. To use Perspectives, users need to copy two configuration files to the '. ssh' directory in their home directory. If they fail to do so, the client will not function.
The first of the two files, notary_list.txt, contains the IP addresses and public keys of notary servers. The second, client_params.txt, contains client settings like timeouts and quorum duration. With Perspectives, users can identify internet servers securely and prevent any attempts at unauthorized access.