Re[2]: [SAGE] The danger of SSH keys..

[Eric Sorenson <eric@explosive.net>]

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007, Dustin Puryear wrote:

> And that last point is what concerns me.
> 
> With passwords on servers, *I* control the minimum strength. I can
> require a certain complexity, that one exists, etc. With SSH keys,
> that is difficult if not impossible to do.
> 
> So, to me, while SSH keys may set the bar higher initially, I
> ultimately have more control with passwords.

Yep, we push a different set of configs to our locked-down servers that 
a) restricts logins to members of a particular group via PAM, and 
b) turns off all login services except ssh, and
c) disables key-based auth for the staff who are allowed to log in.

This protects against the threat of passwordless keys plus an 
escalation-of-privilege type attack where the attacker puts her own 
key into another user's authorized_keys file.

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