List of Computer Term Etymologies - K

K

• Kerberos — a computer network authentication protocol that is used by both Windows 2000 and Windows XP as their default authentication method.

When created by programmers at MIT in the 1970s, they wanted a name that suggested high security for the project, so they named it after Kerberos, in Greek mythology the three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades. The reference to Greek mythology is most likely because Kerberos was developed as part of Project Athena.