[PLUG] ssh public/private key login authentication?

[Michael Rasmussen]

On Fri, Jul 04, 2014 at 06:35:03PM -0700, 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.
 
That's how it works. 
You need to get the permissions correct on file in ~/.ssh or it will
refuse to work.

-- 
      Michael Rasmussen, Portland Oregon  
    Be Appropriate && Follow Your Curiosity
Education isn't filling a pail but lighting a fire.
    ~ WB Yates