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Conceivably, you can share the public key with anyone without compromising the private key; you store it on the remote system in a . ssh/authorized_keys directory. To use SSH public key authentication: The remote system must have a version of SSH installed.
Can anyone see a public key?
Anyone can have access to a public key to encrypt data, but only an individual who has the matching private key can decrypt the data. If anyone other than the owner of the private key tries to decrypt the information using the public key, the information will be unreadable.
Where do I put my public key for SSH?
If you would like to log in to more than one user on the server using your key pair, you will need to add your public key to each of those users. To set up SSH key authentication for one of your server’s users, add your public key to a new line inside the user’s authorized_keys file.
Is the.ssh Directory readable by anyone but the user?
Remember that the .ssh directory cannot be readable or writeable by anyone but the user, and the user’s home directory cannot be writeable by anyone but the user. Likewise, permissions must be tight on the private key, as well: Read/write for only the user, and the .ssh directory and private keyfile must be owned by the user.
How does SSH public key authentication work for remote systems?
Before you begin. Using SSH public-key authentication to connect to a remote system is a robust, more secure alternative to logging in with an account password or passphrase. SSH public-key authentication relies on asymmetric cryptographic algorithms that generate a pair of separate keys (i.e., a key pair), one “private” and the other “public”.
Do you need a passphrase to SSH to a remote system?
In the “Key passphrase” and “Confirm passphrase” text boxes, enter a passphrase to passphrase-protect your private key. If you don’t passphrase-protect your private key, anyone with access to your computer will be able to SSH (without being prompted for a passphrase) to your account on any remote system that has the corresponding public key.