On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 5:16 PM Warren Kumari <warren@kumari.net> wrote:
Well, yes and no. With a Yubiikey the attacker has to be local to physically touch the button[0] - with just an SSH key, anyone who gets access to the machine can take my key and use it. This puts it in the "something you have" (not something you are) camp.
Hi Warren, They're both "something you have" factors. The yubi key proves possession better than the ssh key just like a long password proves what-you-know better than a 4-digit PIN. But the ssh key and the yubi key are still part of the same authentication factor.
Not really -- if an attacker steals my laptop, they don't have the yubikey (unless I store it in the USB port).
You make a habit of removing your yubi key from the laptop when nature calls? No you don't.
If they *do* steal both, they can bruteforce the SSH passphrase, but after 5 tries of guessing the Yubikey PIN it self-destructs.
What yubikey are you talking about? I have a password protecting my ssh key but the yubikeys I've used (including the FIPS version) spit out a string of characters when you touch them. No pin. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William Herrin bill@herrin.us https://bill.herrin.us/