SSH (Secure Shell) keys are an access credential that is used in the SSH protocol.
Today, the SSH protocol is widely used to login remotely from one system into another, and its strong encryption makes it ideal to carry out tasks such as issuing remote commands and remotely managing network infrastructure and other vital system components.
To use the SSH protocol, a couple pieces of software need to be installed. The remote systems need to have a piece of software called an SSH daemon, and the system used to issue commands and manage the remote servers needs to have a piece of software called the SSH client. These pieces of software are necessary to create a proper communication channel using the SSH protocol (DigitalOcean).
Essentially, SSH keys are an authentication method used to gain access to this encrypted connection between systems.
SSH keys come in many sizes, but a popular choice is RSA 2048-bit encryption, which is comparative to a 617 digit long password. On Windows systems, it is possible to generate your own SSH key pair by downloading and using an SSH client like PuTTY. On Mac® and Linux® systems, it is possible to generate an SSH key pair using a terminal window.
SSH keys always come in pairs, and each pair is made up of a private key and a public key. Who or what possesses these keys determines the type of SSH key pair.
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If the private key and the public key remain with the user, this set of SSH keys is referred to as user keys.
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If the private and public key are on a remote system, then this key pair is referred to as host keys.
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Another type of SSH key is a session key. When a large amount of data is being transmitted, session keys are used to encrypt this information.
SSH keys are authentication credentials. SSH keys enable the automation that makes modern cloud services and other computer-dependent services possible and cost-effective. They offer convenience and improved security when properly managed.
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