Current File : //usr/share/help/C/seahorse/about-ssh.page
<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
type="topic" style="task"
id="about-ssh">
<info>
<link type="guide" xref="concepts" group="first"/>
<revision version="0.1" date="2011-10-23" status="stub"/>
<include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
<credit type="author">
<name>Jim Campbell</name>
<email its:translate="no">jwcampbell@gmail.com</email>
<years>2013</years>
</credit>
<desc>SSH keys are used to login to a remote computer, once a secure
connection has been established.</desc>
</info>
<title>What is a Secure Shell key?</title>
<p>A <em>Secure Shell key</em>, often just called an <em>SSH key</em>,
helps you create a secure connection over an unsecured network.</p>
<list>
<title>An SSH key actually consists of two parts:</title>
<item><p>A public key, which is widely available.</p></item>
<item><p>A private key, which is kept secret. The private key is used
to unlock messages encrypted with a corresponding public key.</p></item>
</list>
<p>The advantage of using an <em>SSH key</em> to create a connection between
computers is that only the <em>Public key</em> needs to be sent over
the network. Transmissions encrypted with a <em>Public key</em> can only be
decoded by unlocking them with the corresponding <em>Private key</em> and a
password. Because only the public key is sent over the network, the key's
password is kept secret.</p>
</page>
Mini Shell