[CentOS] How insecure is NIS ? Possible alternatives ?

Hi,

In the past I've setup simple centralized authentication with NIS and NFS, without bothering about possible security implications.

Over the next month I have to setup a new network in a local school, and I wonder if I should use NIS/NFS. I still have my own documentation, it's simple and somewhat bone-headed to setup, and it just works.

RHEL/CentOS 7 still provide NIS, and I vaguely wonder how exactly it is insecure. So I thought I'd simply ask on this list.

I know there's FreeIPA available. I gave it a spin some time ago on a local machine, but I think it's a bit overkill.

Anyone here who uses central authentication (CentOS server + CentOS clients) ? Any suggestions ?

Cheers,

Niki