RD is pretty safe, and you can even turn up the default encryption to a higher bit if you prefer. SSH or any other tunneling protocol is a bit much in my opinion, as I have yet to be able to find a cracker for a "sniffed" RD/TS session, and the only plaintext that can be sniffed from a terminal service/remote desktop session is the username, and that's only when you first log on the the pc your TS/RD'ing to. Here is how you turn up the encryption level on RD (it's done on the server, the client will be instructed to use a higher level)
http://support.microsoft.c
The main security hole with rd/ts is the port is very well known, and most scanners have this one added to their list to look for. But the biggest security hole used to be, that you could find a TS/RD server, and then try to brute force the Local administrator account, because the local admin account can NEVER be locked out, so your free to guess as much as you like. In xp sp2 and in 2003 sp1 (beta) they have added a fix that makes the local admin account "appear" to be locked out to a RD user, if you type the password wrong 6 times I believe. You can still walk of to the key board of the machine and log in as the admin even if RD tells you the account is locked out, which I think is 30 minutes.
leww mentioned using a vpn of tunnel solution such as ipsec or ssh because the port is very well known, and the tunnel adds an extra layer of authentication to the mix, so that only authorized users can access the rd port's because they would be the only ones that can tunnel in to see the port.
with RD you can list users that are allowed to conenct, and you can even change the listening port, here are some of my previous posts on this subject:
http://www.experts-exchang
-rich
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by: leewPosted on 2005-05-02 at 19:08:41ID: 13914540
First, unless you're running a business where intellectual property is a strong part of your business model or your marketing plans will have a significant impact on the market in general, don't start thinking everyone's out to get you. They aren't. The VAST majority of "hackers" are trying to use your system for either storage or a coordinated attack on another web site. No one "puts" a virust on a computer either. Security holes in Windows and/or poor practices (allowing/using File Sharing Programs such as Kazaa), not running up to date antivirus and/or accepting Office documents from others who might be infected are the most frequent and likely methods of infection.
All that said, If you are going to allow the Remote Desktop port to be open, then there's a security risk. Significant? I don't think so, but if you want to be SAFE, you'll setup a VPN. Then you can VPN to the server and connect over a secure connection.
You can also try RDP over SSH - here's some links for products and info:
http://www.wissh.com/
http://theillustratednetwo