How I Keep My SSH Keys Safe
I’m using SSH on a daily basis. It’s how I authenticate with varios code forges like GitHub or Codeberg. Furthermore, I’m using it to sign my Git commits. This let’s others verify easily that I’m the author of a commit. Everybody should sign their commits.
What is SSH cryptographically?
SSH manages a public / private key pair. You can give your public key to services, servers, people and SSH proves to these entities that the person with the private key, you, made a certain request / statement / signature.
Linux Without Passwords
I hate typing passwords. I think everybody does. I fat-finger one wrong letter nearly every time I enter one. What a colossal waste of time.
And then there’s the security aspect. Passwords are bad and I’m going to great lengths to get rid of them.
Today I’m going to share how I achieved a passwordless experience on my Linux machine.
There are several distinct parts of a Linux session where a password might be needed and could be replaced. I’ll treat them one-by-one. They are usually orthogonal, so each of them can be applied independently of the others.
How I Took Control of My Email
Email addresses are the base of our digital identity. If somebody takes control of an email address, they usually take control of all accounts attached to it via the Password Reset functionality. In this sense, your email address is the most critical part of your digital identity.
Yet, most people are using Google Mail or other “free” service providers for their email, effectively giving up control over their email address. The one who pays is in charge and if you don’t pay for a product, you’re the product. Everything comes with a price. I’m willing to pay a little to break free from Big Tech. How about you?
How I Do Backups
Things will go wrong. And if we don’t come prepared, we’re going to lose data. Which can be anything from annoying to catastrophic. Let me show you how I keep my data secure. Let me show you how I do backups.
Basics
Backups can and should be simple. You periodically copy all your data onto a USB drive and call it a day. This setup does the trick for most people. I’d recommend it any day over not doing backups at all. However, it has two flaws.
How I'm using Password Managers
Passwords are hard. Yet, they are the one authentication mechanism supported by every service we’re using. Sometimes even the only one. Since they are so difficult to avoid, we need a strategy to cope with them. Let me show you mine.
The ideal password
The ideal password fulfills the following criteria:
- It’s used only for one account.
- It’s random and long enough to make brute-forcing impossible.
- It’s not stored unencrypted in a file.
So we have to create a long, random password for each website and remember it. That’s impossible.
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