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Re: Accounts on debian.org machines



On Sun, Dec 07, 2003 at 09:27:53PM +0100, Tollef Fog Heen wrote:
> * Matt Zimmerman 

> | (Please follow up on a public list)

> done, -devel has M-F-T set to.

> | On Sun, Dec 07, 2003 at 06:26:48PM +0100, Tollef Fog Heen wrote:
> | 
> | > * Matt Zimmerman 
> | >
> | > | You would type a Debian password into a system that you do not trust
> | > | with an ssh private key?
> | > 
> | > Yes, since I don't want to keep a key on them, since they are not
> | > secure over time.  They are most likely secure when I'm sitting at the
> | > console.  See above for an example: I don't trust that anything I put
> | > permanently on the hard drive won't be compromised, however, I don't
> | > think the box itself has any trojans or keysniffers installed.
> | 
> | This doesn't make sense to me; if the system is not trustworthy, then you
> | should not trust it with any authentication data, whether passwords or ssh
> | keys.

> You are forgetting the temporal aspect here.  A machine may be viewed
> as fairly safe when I have physical control of it.  That does not mean
> that the machine is safe always, which is the case for, say my
> father's windows 2000 laptop when it's only connected to a NAT-ed
> internet connection.

But an ssh key on removable media is not vulnerable to keysniffing
alone, where a password is.

-- 
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer

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