GSI-enabled OpenSSH Privacy Policy

Summary

• We removed the usage-stats.cilogon.org DNS entry on December 6, 2016.
• Prior to the GSI-OpenSSH 7.1p2c release in May 2016, the GSI-OpenSSH Project at NCSA used the Globus Usage Metrics capability to collect statistics about the use of GSI-OpenSSH software.
• We collected this information for reporting to funding agencies, to justify continued support for the GSI-OpenSSH software.
• The data sent to the GSI-OpenSSH Project does not contain user-identifying information.
• By default, the sshd in GSI-OpenSSH v5.0-5.7 will send a UDP packet containing usage information to a server at NCSA (hostname: usage-stats.cilogon.org/cilogon-usage-stats.ncsa.uiuc.edu, port: 4810) after serving each request. Since GSI-OpenSSH 7.1p2c, usage metrics are no longer sent by default.
• GSI-OpenSSH clients (ssh, scp etc.) do not send any usage statistics. It is only the sshd server that collects and sends usage statistics.
• The contents of the UDP packets are stored for up to one week on a server at NCSA, accessible only to NCSA staff. Aggregate statistics are computed once per week after which stored UDP packets are deleted from the NCSA database.
• You can opt-out from sending this information.
• You can configure your own listener to collect statistics on your use of GSI-OpenSSH software. Contact usage-stats@globus.org for details.

What is sent?

The following usage data elements are sent by default:

• Component identifier (to differentiate GSI-OpenSSH packets from others)
• Usage data format identifier (for different GSI-OpenSSH packet versions)
• Time stamp
• Source IP address
• Source hostname (to differentiate between hosts with identical private IP addresses)
• Version of GSI-OpenSSH server (V)
• SSL Version of GSI-OpenSSH server (v)
• Authentication Method used such as "gssapi-keyex", "gssapi-with-mic" (M)
• GSSAPI Authentication Mechanism used such as "GSI", "Kerberos" (m)

Additionally, a site could choose to report the following data to a local collector. These data are NOT reported by default due to the private nature of these data elements.

• Client IP address (I)
• Username (u)
• User DN (U)

Opt-out

We have made a concerted effort to collect a minimal amount of data for justifying continued support for the GSI-OpenSSH software. By not opting out, thereby allowing these statistics to be reported back, you are explicitly supporting the further development of GSI-OpenSSH.

However, you can disable this functionality via any of the following methods:

• Set the DisableUsageStats option in sshd_config to "true".
• Set "GLOBUS_USAGE_OPTOUT=1" in the environment of the sshd.

Configuration

You can configure where the sshd sends usage statistics and what information it sends via the UsageStatsTargets option in sshd_config The format for the specification is host:port[!tags][,host:port[!tags]]... where tags is a set of tags each corresponding to the information elements described above that should be reported to the specified host. If no tags are specified or the special string "default" is specified, then the tags VvMm are assumed. The special string "all" denotes all tags.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback via any of the GSI-OpenSSH support channels or by directly contacting Jim Basney.