[PLUG] ssh public/private key login authentication?

[Steve Dum]

most recent distributions of ssh just use 'authorized_keys'.  It 
wouldn't hurt having both, but then
you won't know which is required :-).  I guess, 'man ssh' will tell you 
there right answer. But who reads docs.  (Ubuntu 14.4 no longer mentions 
authorized_keys2)
Dont forget permissions for the .ssh directory (700)
steve
Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> Question?
>
> Without getting into incompetence, impersonation,
> man-in-the-middle, drugs and pipe wrenches ...
>
> I have a friend in another state who I want to give ssh access
> to on one of my machines.  If I understand ssh key exchange,
>
>   1) he makes a private/public key pair for openssh
>     1a) using a recent Linux, of course
>   2) he sends me the public key over the unencrypted internet
>   3) I put it in the .ssh/authorized_keys2 in his user directory
>
> ... and we are probably good to go, yes?  Not perfect security,
> but enough, I hope, to irritate a typical national spy agency.
>
> If necessary, we can escalate the complexity of the transfer,
> (key encoded in carrier pigeon DNA - sequence DNA, eat bird)
> but complication is insecure in its own way.
>
> Keith
>