Tagged Questions

1
vote
1answer
60 views

Simple and secure remote installation method that accepts input via a web page?

When installing software on a remote server: Is it possible to let the admin (i.e. the user that installs the software) define admin username and password via a HTML page, in a secure manner? ...
4
votes
4answers
329 views

What are the ways to implement two factor authentication?

We have devices that can generate tokens. So we can use tokens with passwords to perform two factor authentication. There are many ways to implement such systems to enhance security. One of two I ...
23
votes
4answers
1k views

Should I change the default SSH port on linux servers?

Is there any advantage in changing the SSH port, I've seen people do that, but I can't seem to find the reason why. If you have a strong password and/or a certificate, is it useful for anything? ...
4
votes
1answer
310 views

How to set up OpenSSH to use x509 PKI for authentication?

I do not mean simply putting the public RSA key of a x.509 certificate into ~/.ssh/authorized_keys - I'm looking for a way to set up a ssh such that x.509 certificates signed by a pre-defined CA will ...
1
vote
4answers
302 views

SSH: reusing public keys and known-man-in-the-middle

Usually, people recommend to use a single private-public key pair everywhere (if we're not talking about a possibility of compromising the private key): Best Practice: “One per-user ssh key” or ...
3
votes
2answers
408 views

Disabling authentication via DSA keys in OpenSSH?

How can I disable DSA and ECDSA authentication on my server with OpenSSH 5.9? Sifting through the documentation material and doing a web search didn't yield any results - only an old bug report for ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views

How does ssh public key authentication work?

My basic understanding is this: The (connected to) server's sshd uses the public key to encrypt some message The client's ssh or ssh-agent decrypts it and sends something back (the message's ...
7
votes
2answers
6k views

What is the difference between authorized_key and known_host file for SSH?

I am learning basics of SSH protocol. I am confused between the contents of the following 2 files: ~/.ssh/authorized_keys: Holds a list of authorized public keys for servers. When the client ...
8
votes
5answers
217 views

How do RSA fingerprints protect from MITM attacks?

I understand that RSA fingerprints are used to verify that you are really connecting directly to who you want to connect to, and not someone else posing as that site. Like when you do a git push, it ...
1
vote
2answers
712 views

Creating user specific authentication methods in SSH

I have configured sshd on an Ubuntu server to use key authentication and it is working fine. I had to disable password authentication for key authentication to work. Server is always accessed via ...
4
votes
4answers
3k views

Secure use of psexec or better alternative to it

I want to remotely start VMWare virtual machines (I own VMWare Workstation) and to this end I need to execute on host something like "vmrun -T ws H:\VMWare\VM1\VM1.vmx nogui" with user desktop ...
2
votes
2answers
77 views

Does TLS-OBC only improve security of Web Browsers? Does it improve the security of SSH?

I'm studying the TLS-OBC extension and would like to know if it improves security of non Web-based protocols? Specifically, would it be of any benefit to SSH clients? (version 1 or version 2.x/secsh) ...
10
votes
8answers
1k views

Can IP address be a component of 2-factor authentication?

I have a bunch of Linux machines that I wish to administer over the Internet. I currently use SSH keys, but have been advised to use 2-factor authentication. SSH Keys are something you know. Is an IP ...
1
vote
3answers
156 views

Smartphone SSH clients with shared user

I am writing an application for smartphones to provide very limited SSH usage. The user cannot perform arbitrary actions when logged in. They can run a specific script(s) only. For various reasons ...
6
votes
4answers
563 views

can ssh passwordless public key authentication be ok if combined with a VPN?

Having a debate with a coworker about the merits & faults of public key authentication with ssh. I'm basically wondering what all the possible merits and faults are, especially in regards to ...
34
votes
7answers
3k views

Are passwordless SSH logins more secure?

I had a long discussion with my co-workers whether key-based SSH authentication (particularly for OpenSSH) is more secure than authentication using passwords. My co-workers always connect to servers ...
5
votes
2answers
490 views

ssh public/private key pair

I am having problems understanding how ssh really works. I know it uses a public key cryptography to encrypt messages. However, I can ssh to a server without first generating a public/private key pair ...
72
votes
3answers
44k views

RSA vs. DSA for SSH authentication keys

When generating SSH authentication keys on a Unix/Linux system with ssh-keygen, you're given the choice of creating a RSA or DSA key pair (using -t type). What is the difference between RSA and DSA ...
23
votes
6answers
1k views

Is using a public-key for logging in to SSH any better than saving a password?

Using a public/private key pair is fairly convenient for logging in to frequented hosts, but if I'm using a key pair with no password, is that any safer (or less safe) than a password? The security ...
5
votes
2answers
333 views

How can I authenticate a client connection in a secure way?

Let's say I have a server listening on port 1234. I have some client software that needs to be able to connect to this port. But I want to prevent malicious users from bypassing the client software ...