Page "Tunneling protocol" Paragraph 6

A secure shell ( SSH ) tunnel consists of an encrypted tunnel created through a SSH protocol connection.

Users may set up SSH tunnels to transfer unencrypted traffic over a network through an encrypted channel.

For example, Microsoft Windows machines can share files using the Server Message Block ( SMB ) protocol, a non-encrypted protocol.

If one were to mount a Microsoft Windows file-system remotely through the Internet, someone snooping on the connection could see transferred files.

To mount the Windows file-system securely, one can establish a SSH tunnel that routes all SMB traffic to the remote fileserver through an encrypted channel.

Even though the SMB protocol itself contains no encryption, the encrypted SSH channel through which it travels offers security.