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More secure DSA or RSA public key?

 
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'chris'
Super Advisor

More secure DSA or RSA public key?

hi

I'd like to use passwordless ssh beetwen 2 linux boxes: 2.4.22 and 2.6.24.
Which is more secure DSA or RSA public key?
3 REPLIES 3
Michal Kapalka (mikap)
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: More secure DSA or RSA public key?

Steven E. Protter
Exalted Contributor

Re: More secure DSA or RSA public key?

Shalom,

Longer keys are harder to crack.

By default rsa keys are bigger in terms of bytes, therefore presumably harder to crack and more secure.

Take a look at the man page for ssh-keygen you can see why.


-b bits
Specifies the number of bits in the key to create. For RSA keys,
the minimum size is 768 bits and the default is 2048 bits.
Generally, 2048 bits is considered sufficient. DSA keys must be
exactly 1024 bits as specified by FIPS 186-2.


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Steven E Protter
Owner of ISN Corporation
http://isnamerica.com
http://hpuxconsulting.com
Sponsor: http://hpux.ws
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hpuxlinux
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Steven E. Protter
Exalted Contributor

Re: More secure DSA or RSA public key?

Sorry about the double post. Note if you go wild on the size of an rsa key, you may really slow down authentication.

SEP
Steven E Protter
Owner of ISN Corporation
http://isnamerica.com
http://hpuxconsulting.com
Sponsor: http://hpux.ws
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hpuxlinux
Founder http://newdatacloud.com