

Kerberos uses a two-part process that leverages a ticket granting service or key distribution center.Īnother main difference is whether passwords are hashed or encrypted. NTLM relies on a three-way handshake between the client and server to authenticate a user. The main difference between NTLM and Kerberos is in how the two protocols manage authentication. It replaced NTLM as the default/standard authentication tool on Windows 2000 and later releases. Like NTLM, Kerberos is an authentication protocol. The Difference Between NTLM and Kerberos? If these two pieces match, then the user is authenticated and access is granted.

The DC then compares the encrypted challenge and client response.The DC retrieves the user’s password from the database and uses it to encrypt the challenge.The server then sends the challenge, response and username to the domain controller (DC).


Windows New Technology LAN Manager (NTLM) is a suite of security protocols offered by Microsoft to authenticate users’ identity and protect the integrity and confidentiality of their activity.
