SSH Key Management Guidelines
The US government rolls new best-practice rules for protecting SSH.
The US National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) has published a draft of new Guidelines for SSH Key Management. The new guidelines are aimed at government system admins and CIOs but are intended to serve as a general, best-practice standard for the IT industry. The draft version of NISTIR7966 “Security of Automated Access Management Using Secure Shell (SSH)” is available for download at the NIST website.
SSH co-creator Tatu Ylonen serves as lead author for the guidelines. Early chapters of the 43-page PDF document cover SSH basics and discuss the most common vulnerabilities associated with SSH keys. Later sections focus on recommended practices and procedures for planning and implementing a key management policy.
The guidelines highlight the need for continuous monitoring and auditing of key use, as well as proper configuration and procedures for terminating key access.
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