Several tools exist to generate SSH public/private key pairs. The following sections show how to generate an SSH key pair on UNIX, UNIX-like and Windows platforms.
UNIX and UNIX-like platforms (including Solaris and Linux) include the ssh-keygen utility to generate SSH key pairs.
May 08, 2019 First, you need to select which type of key you want to generate, and also select the strength of the key. Then press the Generate button, to actually generate the key. Once you have generated the key, select a comment field and a passphrase. Now you’re ready to save the private key to disk; press the Save private key button. The fingerprint is derived from the public key and creation timestamp - both are contained in the public keys listed on the site.There are several ways of inspecting keys without importing them, which also makes sure you print the information of the very specific key you are considering right now.
filename
your choice of file name for the private key:The ssh-keygen utility prompts you for a passphrase for the private key.
Note:
While a passphrase is not required, you should specify one as a security measure to protect the private key from unauthorized use. When you specify a passphrase, a user must enter the passphrase every time the private key is used.
The ssh-keygen utility prompts you to enter the passphrase again.
filename
and the public key has been saved as filename
.pub
. It also displays information about the key fingerprint and randomart image.The PuTTYgen program is part of PuTTY, an open source networking client for the Windows platform.
To download PuTTY or PuTTYgen, go to http://www.putty.org/ and click the You can download PuTTY here link.
As the key is being generated, move the mouse around the blank area as directed.
Note:
While a passphrase is not required, you should specify one as a security measure to protect the private key from unauthorized use. When you specify a passphrase, a user must enter the passphrase every time the private key is used.
.ppk
(PuTTY private key).Note:
The.ppk
file extension indicates that the private key is in PuTTY's proprietary format. You must use a key of this format when using PuTTY as your SSH client. It cannot be used with other SSH client tools. Refer to the PuTTY documentation to convert a private key in this format to a different format. Make sure you select all the characters, not just the ones you can see in the narrow window. If a scroll bar is next to the characters, you aren't seeing all the characters.
.pub
extension to indicate that the file contains a public key.ssh
utility on Linux), export the private key:.ppk
format, using an extension such as .openssh
to indicate the file's content.In public-key cryptography, a public key fingerprint is a short sequence of bytes used to identify a longer public key. Fingerprints are created by applying a cryptographic hash function to a public key. Since fingerprints are shorter than the keys they refer to, they can be used to simplify certain key management tasks. In Microsoft software, 'thumbprint' is used instead of 'fingerprint'.
A public key fingerprint is typically created through the following steps:
This process produces a short fingerprint which can be used to authenticate a much larger public key. For example, whereas a typical RSA public key will be 1024 bits in length or longer, typical MD5 or SHA-1 fingerprints are only 128 or 160 bits in length.
When displayed for human inspection, fingerprints are usually encoded into hexadecimal strings. These strings are then formatted into groups of characters for readability. For example, a 128-bit MD5 fingerprint for SSH would be displayed as follows:
When a public key is received over an untrusted channel, such as the Internet, the recipient often wishes to authenticate the public key. Fingerprints can help accomplish this, since their small size allows them to be passed over trusted channels where public keys won't easily fit.
For example, if Alice wishes to authenticate a public key as belonging to Bob, she can contact Bob over the phone or in person and ask him to read his fingerprint to her, or give her a scrap of paper with the fingerprint written down. Alice can then check that this trusted fingerprint matches the fingerprint of the public key. Exchanging and comparing values like this is much easier if the values are short fingerprints instead of long public keys.
Fingerprints can also be useful when automating the exchange or storage of key authentication data. For example, if key authentication data needs to be transmitted through a protocol or stored in a database where the size of a full public key is a problem, then exchanging or storing fingerprints may be a more viable solution.
In addition, fingerprints can be queried with search engines in order to ensure that the public key that a user just downloaded can be seen by third party search engines. If the search engine returns hits referencing the fingerprint linked to the proper site(s), one can feel more confident that the key is not being injected by an attacker, such as a Man-in-the-middle attack.
PGP developed the PGP word list to facilitate the exchange of public key fingerprints over voice channels.
In systems such as SSH, users can exchange and check fingerprints manually to perform key authentication. Once a user has accepted another user's fingerprint, that fingerprint (or the key it refers to) will be stored locally along with a record of the other user's name or address, so that future communications with that user can be automatically authenticated.
In systems such as X.509-based PKI, fingerprints are primarily used to authenticate root keys. These root keys issue certificates which can be used to authenticate user keys. This use of certificates eliminates the need for manual fingerprint verification between users. Diablo 2 lod battlenet cd key generator.
In systems such as PGP or Groove, fingerprints can be used for either of the above approaches: they can be used to authenticate keys belonging to other users, or keys belonging to certificate-issuing authorities. In PGP, normal users can issue certificates to each other, forming a web of trust, and fingerprints are often used to assist in this process (e.g., at key-signing parties).
In systems such as CGA or SFS and most cryptographic peer-to-peer networks, fingerprints are embedded into pre-existing address and name formats (such as IPv6 addresses, file names or other identification strings). If addresses and names are already being exchanged through trusted channels, this approach allows fingerprints to piggyback on them.[1]
In PGP, most keys are created in such a way so that what is called the 'key ID' is equal to the lower 32 or 64 bits respectively of a key fingerprint. PGP uses key IDs to refer to public keys for a variety of purposes. These are not, properly speaking, fingerprints, since their short length prevents them from being able to securely authenticate a public key. 32bit key ids should not be used as current hardware can generate 32bit key id in just 4 seconds.[2]
The primary threat to the security of a fingerprint is a preimage attack, where an attacker constructs a key pair whose public key hashes to a fingerprint that matches the victim's fingerprint. The attacker could then present his public key in place of the victim's public key to masquerade as the victim.
A secondary threat to some systems is a collision attack, where an attacker constructs multiple key pairs which hash to his own fingerprint. This may allow an attacker to repudiate signatures he has created, or cause other confusion.
To prevent preimage attacks, the cryptographic hash function used for a fingerprint should possess the property of second preimage resistance. If collision attacks are a threat, the hash function should also possess the property of collision-resistance. While it is acceptable to truncate hash function output for the sake of shorter, more usable fingerprints, the truncated fingerprints must be long enough to preserve the relevant properties of the hash function against brute-force search attacks.
In practice, most fingerprints commonly used today are based on non-truncated MD5 or SHA-1 hashes. As of 2017, collisions but not preimages can be found in MD5 and SHA-1. The future is therefore likely to bring increasing use of newer hash functions such as SHA-256. However, fingerprints based on SHA-256 and other hash functions with long output lengths are more likely to be truncated than (relatively short) MD5 or SHA-1 fingerprints.
In situations where fingerprint length must be minimized at all costs, the fingerprint security can be boosted by increasing the cost of calculating the fingerprint. For example, in the context of Cryptographically Generated Addresses, this is called 'Hash Extension' and requires anyone calculating a fingerprint to search for a hashsum starting with a fixed number of zeroes[3], which is assumed to be an expensive operation.