NTP Security

Learn  the risks associated with Network Time Protocol (NTP) security and how to minimize those risks in daily deployment. Disruption of NTP services can interrupt communication between servers on the network and take an entire network offline.



Beyond disrupting communication, flaws in the NTP daemon itself can make servers vulnerable to external attack—attacks that often go unnoticed. NTP is being used more frequently in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. It is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) with encryption schemes that are not often used or are poorly implemented, making it susceptible to spoofing.


Despite all of the security challenges, the fact is that NTP is critical to most modern networks. It is one of those "set it and forget it" protocols that network administrators and even security professionals don't understand in depth. However, an attacker who does understand the security flaws can wreak havoc on an insecure network.

NTP Security: A Quick-Start Guide provides a deeper understanding of the protocol itself and how to deploy a strategy using the protocol throughout a network in a secure manner. Your security team will be able to provide better guidance to the system and network teams who will then be able to better manage the day-to-day implementation.

This succinct resource offers practical guidance to an underserved topic (actually, not served at all). Coverage includes:

An understanding of NTP and the importance of time synchronization in modern networks Issues in NTP security, including an analysis of NTP traffic A review of the vulnerabilities and flaws in the protocol Practical solutions for securing NTP and building a robust infrastructure Effective alternatives to NTP