Network File System authentication

NFS uses the DES algorithm for different purposes. NFS uses DES to encrypt a time stamp in the remote procedure call (RPC) messages sent between NFS servers and clients. This encrypted time stamp authenticates machines just as the token authenticates the sender.

Because NFS can authenticate every RPC message exchanged between NFS clients and servers, this provides an additional, optional level of security for each file system. By default, file systems are exported with the standard UNIX authentication. To take advantage of this additional level of security, you can specify the secure option when you export a file system.