The security of the data lodged on your server is highly critical- The intrusion of any sort which compromises latter can lead to the consequences like minor glitches, temporary disruption of services, or even data theft. For instance, in case of website defacement, you'll have to clean up the mess and restore the missing files, to bring everything back to the previous working order.
A more serious security breach can even lead to a full-blown root-level compromise which can take weeks to recover from the extensive damage done; thus leading to the loss of business hours, money and resources- Here's when SSH key security comes to your rescue.
What are SSH keys?
Secure Shell Keys are the access credentials that are used under SSH protocol was developed by Tatu Ylonen in the year 1995- He created the protocol to prevent the university of Helsinki from sniffing attacks which posed a big threat to critical IT assets and other data.
Currently, SSH protocol is widely used to impart high-level security to the servers across the network by the means of encryption keys. SSH keys are essentially two files where each one of them carries an encryption key- one public and another one private. They operate as a pair and only private key can decrypt the message encrypted by the complementing public key. You require both to gain the server access.
Benefits of SSH Keys
SSH key security is much more advanced and safer than the usual methodology of password authentication.
With the help of SSH keys, an administrator can set permission as well as create multiple SSH keys to access one user account. Here are the major benefits associated with the process.
- You can grant access to multiple users without the requirement to share the account password.
- It further simplifies the mechanism of rights management: all concerned parties can log in securely into the same account and share the privileges set by the administrator.
- Easy Removal of access as and when required by destroying the keys.
For an instance, if a developer and webmaster are working on the same project, as an administrator you may set appropriate access individually to both where they can use the same account with their respective SSH key pair while maintaining the PCI DSS compliance.
To learn more about SSH key security, visit us now at Foxpass.
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