On Monday, July 21, 2003, at 11:21 AM, Alex McKenzie wrote:
> Judson Lester wrote:
>> While I agree that not having a passphrase on your keypair is nowhere
>> near as good as having one, I think a pasphrase-less keypair is much
>> superior to cleartext passwords. On the other hand, ssh password
>> authentication does *not* occur in the clear, so it's a definite leg
>> up over services like ftp or http auth where passwords do pass in the
>> clear.
>
> *Sighs* Doesn't http use a one way hash? I avoid ftp like the plague.
HTTP *can* use MD5 (or SHA), but it needn't always. What fun, eh?
Unfortunately, ftp has found a major toehold, especially with
web-dev-trolls.
>> Ultimately, empty-password keypairs are like a physical key. If you
>> lose it, someone else can open your front door (with the extra
>> downside that you probably won't know you lost it.) On the other
>> hand, cleartext passwords are like shouting your PIN down a darkened
>> hallway. At least there's a reasonable (if not paranoid) assumption
>> of security for keypairs.
>
> I see plaintext passwords as writing it on a piece of paper and
> handing it to someone. You don't know what they'll do with the piece
> of paper, they could burn it, just toss it on the floor, or slip it in
> their pocket for later.
Don't forget the fact that you're actually handing the piece of paper
to a total stranger (well, you give them money, too, but then they hand
it off to someone you've got no relationship with), and that at any
handoff there could conceivably be someone looking over either party's
should. The "shouting down a dark hallway" is just a simpler analogy.
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Received on 07/21/03
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