Skip to main content
edited tags
Link
schroeder
  • 132.2k
  • 55
  • 307
  • 348
Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackSecurity/status/70540223678914560
edited tags
Link
john
  • 11.1k
  • 2
  • 38
  • 43
Source Link
Nick T
  • 3.5k
  • 5
  • 24
  • 28

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 around my private key file is paramount, but say my magical private key file was just a list of passwords to various hosts, is there a difference?