sudo password vs ssh keys

tladuke · 2011-03-09 19:50:38

I thought it would be a good idea to change my password to something hard and then use ssh key to login. The problem is, every time I need to sudo something, I have to take an hour to lookup and type in my crazy password. So I added myself to sudoers with NOPASSWD: ALL.

What do you think is worse: typing a dumb password all the time, or not typing a hard password?

Awebb · 2011-03-09 20:06:39

Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand posts:
http://knoobie.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/facepalm.jpg

Any script on your computer can execute anything it's in the mood to, just by adding "sudo". Everytime your favorite browser developer has a bad day, you -Syu right into your personal doomsday.

loafer · 2011-03-09 21:01:44

Strong passwords don't have to be hard to remember. Set one which is hard to crack.

sigmund · 2011-03-14 08:22:28

I have been personally using pamusb (from AUR) for a year and I am very satisifed with it (though I know it's not perfect).
I have a hard to remember password, but that it's not a problem at all because I simply use a usb key that I plug-in when I switch on every pc I am working on and I never type it, nor in front of a tty, neither in front of gdm, neither kdm.

Furthermore, I have just added blueproximity and when I leave the computer it automaitcally locks it if I take my mobile phone with me whenever I am out of range and it automatically unlocks it when I am in front of the keyboard.

These two packages with sudo have made my life so easy and geeky that I can't live without them anymore!

Edit: Furthermore, I use ssh with public keys encryption and no interactive password request (so that I have not to type the password when I login remotely) and this is my complete and happily secure way of livining with a strong and forgettable password that I secretly keep in a drop place, far from my computers, just in case that something goes wrong.

Edit: On a fresh install the last thing I am going to do is to encrypt the root file system with some files stored on the same pamusb key and that will be a 100% nsa/feds proof configuration. But I haven't experimented with it at the moment. (Truecrypt already works like this and it's great) No more passwords typing in a highly secured environment! Eheheheh...

Last edited by sigmund (2011-03-14 09:49:13)

pseudonomous · 2011-03-15 04:49:16

What about setting a strong root password and allowing ssh-key access only root logins to localhost? Then you could do:

"ssh root@localhost"

to do system administration, and only have to remember your ssh-passphrase.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-09 19:50:38

sudo password vs ssh keys

#2 2011-03-09 20:06:39

Re: sudo password vs ssh keys

#3 2011-03-09 21:01:44

Re: sudo password vs ssh keys

#4 2011-03-14 08:22:28

Re: sudo password vs ssh keys

#5 2011-03-15 04:49:16

Re: sudo password vs ssh keys

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