Quiz Entry - updated: 2026.10.22
Where does the name Kerberos come from, and what are the milestones of its history?
Named after the three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades, Kerberos came out of MIT's Project Athena in the 1980s; version 4 was the first public release, version 5 was published as RFC 1510 in 1993 and replaced by RFC 4120 in 2005.
| When | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1983 | MIT starts Project Athena (with IBM and DEC); Kerberos is developed within it in the following years, versions 1 to 3 stay internal |
| 1989 | Version 4 released: the first public version, DES-based and limited to TCP/IP, with several security problems |
| 1993 | Version 5 published as RFC 1510 |
| 2005 | IETF updates: RFC 4120 "The Kerberos Network Authentication Service (V5)" replaces RFC 1510, with improved encryption (AES) |
| 2007 | MIT founds the Kerberos Consortium to foster further development; founding sponsors include Oracle, Apple, Google and Microsoft |
The three heads are often read as the three parties of the protocol: the client, the service and the Key Distribution Center.
Go deeper:
Kerberos history (Wikipedia) — from Project Athena to version 5 and the Consortium.- MIT: Designing an Authentication System, a Dialogue in Four Scenes — the classic 1988 dialogue that derives Kerberos step by step, with a Version 5 afterword.