What is Network Time Protocol (NTP)? And why is Network Time Protocol is so crucial protocol?
Network Time Protocol (NTP) is basically employed in a network to synchronize the clock across computer systems such as workstations, servers and network devices such as firewalls, routers, and switches. NTP employs UDP port 123 and the communication is based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Moreover, it is an important protocol because directory services, network devices, and computer systems such as server, workstation, smartphones, tablets, etc. depend on clock settings for login and logging purposes to keep track of events and incidents in an organization.
The NTP protocol uses stratum to indicate the expected accuracy of system clocks and describe the distance between the NTP server and device. The device that has the most accurate clock servers as a reference clock that is the clock through which other devices on the system such as workstations and servers and thereby synchronize their time. The stratum is similar to Time to Leave (TTL) number in that it decreases with every hop when a passes by the network. Moreover, the stratum value increases with every hope i.e. starting from one.
The NTP server in an organization is critical asset that demands utmost security and protection from various cyberattacks. For instance, the cybercriminal may change the time settings to mislead digital forensic investigation endeavors and makes it difficult to correlate and analyze security incidents or events to find out the root cause of the cyberattack. NTP version 3 and latest versions support a cryptographic based authentication systems between NTP servers and this authentication mechanism may help to mitigate these and similar cyberattacks.