On Thursday, December 5, 2019 7:07:04 AM MST Neal Gompa wrote:
> Please don't suggest that password-based auth for SSH is insecure.
> That's not even close to true. A password isn't terribly different
> from an SSH key from an authentication perspective. If the password is
> strong or hard to crack, then it's fine.

It's not insecure as a mechanism, but, without something like fail2ban, it 
takes a surprisingly short amount of time to break into systems using password 
authentication. In practice, it is insecure, especially when compared to the 
other options.

> Frankly, it's irresponsible to give blanket statements like that,
> because they're untrue and do not recognize the nuance of threat
> models and risk assessments.

It is irresponsible to suggest password based authentication, especially at a 
time where residential ranges especially are being mass scanned, and bots 
attempt to break into these systems once ssh servers with password 
authentication have been found.

> For the vast majority of people using SSH in a non-shared context
> (i.e. not a VPS or some kind of easily accessible server), password
> auth is more than sufficient with a strong enough password or
> passphrase.

This would depend heavily on what environment they're using it on. If it never 
connects to the internet, you would be correct. If it connects to shared wifi, 
or home wifi with the average home router, then I would argue that it is not 
sufficient to use password authentication. Especially on shared wifi, for 
example guest wifi at most businesses.

-- 
John M. Harris, Jr.
Splentity

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