[ILUG] Accessing home computer from outside

[Timothy Murphy]

On Saturday 30 December 2006 17:27, Colm Buckley wrote:

> On 30/12/06, Timothy Murphy <tim at birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie> wrote:
> > One thing I guess I've never understood
> > is why it is so easy to set up an ssh connection internally,
> > eg if someone brings a laptop into the house.
> > My shorewall policy allows connection from LAN to firewall:
> >         loc             $FW             ACCEPT
> > Does that mean ssh does not look for any authentication in this case?
>
> No - the shorewall setting is just limiting the networks which are
> allowed to *connect* to the SSH port.  Connection is only the first
> phase of SSH access; once you've connected, it then will go through
> the configured authentication mechanisms.
>
> If you're not asked for a password etc, it's probably because you've
> put the public key of the client into the authorized_keys of the
> server.

I do indeed add the public key to authorized_keys , later.

But what puzzles me is that _before_ this,
when I "ssh <machine>" I am just asked
"Do you want to connect to <machine>? Yes/No"
and when I answer yes I am connected.

I admit I always give an empty pass-phrase to ssh-keygen .
Is that a serious mistake?

-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland