Not that I've done it, but you can use Kerberos to remotely manage a Cisco,
giving you an encrypted telnet. In fact, does anyone have any pointers
about how?
Sam
Searching CCO for "encrypted telnet" gives:
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/software/ios112/krbtelnt.htm
Like yourself, I've never used it, so I can't vouch for it.
Scott
I helped test this about a year and a half ago. It works.
- jared