Making a Key<\/strong>
\nThe tab that will be of the most interest if you’re just starting out with SSH will be the “SSH Keys” window. That’s where you can create and manage your SSH keys. To make a new one, for instance, open SSHKeychain’s preferences and click on the “SSH Keys” icon, then click on the “New…” button.<\/p>\nClick the “Select …” button to pick where the new key will go and what it will be named (traditionally in a hidden directory in your home directory called “.ssh,” which is what SSHKeychain will suggest if it’s present). If you don’t already have keys, you’ll want to name your new one id_dsa.<\/p>\n
The default Type (dsa) and number of bits (1024) are fine. Then pick a really secure passphrase for your key and remember it. Since you won’t need to continually reenter this passphrase, it should be stronger than normal. My favorite password creation technique is to pick a sentence then use the first letter of every word from that sentence. For instance, I keep a copy of the AP Guide on my desk, so I might use it for a password by changing “The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law” to “tapsaboml,” then season it with some punctuation or numbers, like “tapsab0ml!”<\/p>\n
SSHKeychain will create two files in the directory you told it to: One file will just be called “id_dsa,” the other will be “ida_dsa.pub.” If you add the contents of that .pub file to the file “authorized_keys2” in your .ssh directory on a server where you log in using ssh, you’ll be able to use your ssh key and not your normal password. That means with SSHKeychain running, you can just pop open a terminal and log in.<\/p>\n
Security Features<\/strong>
\nDid you detect the one big problem with just authenticating your SSH key and then not worrying about it for the rest of the day? It’s the same as any other password-based authentication. If you get up and walk away, your computer is an open portal to all your remote hosts for anyone who walks by and sees an opportunity. SSHKeychain’s developer thought of that.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ssh_keychain.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Check out the “Security Settings” icon in the preferences. By default, the “use custom security settings” checkbox should be unchecked. If you check it, you’ll see all of SSHKeychain’s security features. These are worth looking at in a little detail.<\/p>\n
On keychain events:<\/strong>\u00a0If you set this to “both,” your ssh keys are effectively tied to the OS X Keychain. So if you lock your Keychain, the ssh agent forgets your keys. If you unlock your keychain, the agent reauthenticates your keys for you.<\/p>\nOn screensaver:<\/strong>\u00a0The best balance between simple and secure in this setting is probably to select “Lock Keychain.” That way your keys are secure and you only have one password to enter when you return. If you’re not worried about the physical security of your system, “No action” is the most convenient setting.<\/p>\nOn system sleep<\/strong>\u00a0is a setting laptop users might be interested in. If you set this to “Remove keys after time-out,” you can keep your keys active for a period reflective of how much you’re opening and closing your laptop during the day. So if you’re usually back to your laptop within five or ten minutes, but want to remove all the keys when you fold it shut for the night, setting the sleep time-out to 60 minutes might do the trick.<\/p>\nKey time-out<\/strong>\u00a0is best left to your discretion. If your computer is always on, even when you’re not around it, and if you’re concerned about someone gaining access to your logins when you’re away from it, you’ll have to balance convenience with that concern.<\/p>\nThat’s about all we have time for this week, but it puts us in a good position for next week, when we can look at ssh tunneling and a few practical applications for ssh in a Mac context. See you then!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OpenSSH is at home in most Unix environments, and the Mac’s OS X is no exception. But getting OpenSSH to feel a little more Mac-like takes a download or two. OpenSSH, the standard for secure\u00a0console\u00a0access over the Internet, was written to be at home among text\u00a0shell\u00a0users or the graphical environment for Unix variants, so getting OpenSSH to feel a little more Mac-like takes a download or two. For several years now, the standard for secure console access over the Internet has been\u00a0OpenSSH. Administrators who need shell access on their servers count on OpenSSH to both secure their login and <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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