-The Monkeysphere project's goal is to extend the web of trust model and other
-features of OpenPGP to other areas of the Internet to help us securely identify
-each other while we work online.
+Monkeysphere is a framework to leverage the OpenPGP web of trust for
+OpenSSH authentication. OpenPGP keys are tracked via GnuPG, and added
+to the authorized\_keys and known\_hosts files used by OpenSSH for
+connection authentication.
[[bugs]] | [[download]] | [[news]] | [[documentation|doc]]
## Conceptual overview ##
+[OpenSSH](http://openssh.com/) provides a functional way for
+management of explicit RSA and DSA keys (without any type of [Public
+Key Infrastructure
+(PKI)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Key_Infrastructure)). The
+basic idea of this project is to create a framework that uses
+[GnuPG](http://www.gnupg.org/)'s keyring manipulation capabilities and
+public keyservers to generate files that OpenSSH will accept and
+handle as intended. This offers users of OpenSSH an effective PKI,
+including the possibility for key transitions, transitive
+identifications, revocations, and expirations. It also actively
+invites broader participation in the
+[OpenPGP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openpgp) [web of
+trust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust).
+
+Under the Monkeysphere, both parties to an OpenSSH connection (client
+and server) have a responsibility to explicitly designate who they
+trust to certify the identity of the other party. This trust
+designation is explicitly indicated with traditional GPG keyring trust
+model. No modification is made to the SSH protocol on the wire (it
+continues to use raw RSA public keys), and it should work with
+unpatched OpenSSH software.
+
+Monkeysphere does not modify ssh in any way, and ssh can be used "out
+of the box". Monkeysphere is a set of tools that manages keys in the
+known\_hosts and authorized\_keys files that ssh uses for connection
+authentication.
+
+## Philosophy ##
+
Humans (and
[monkeys](http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-17/mi-17.html))
have innate capacity to keep track of the identity of a finite number
produce aisle really is the same person who we met at the party last
week.
-For most of us, this limitation has not posed much of a problem in our daily,
-off-line lives. With the Internet, however, we have an ability to interact
-with vastly larger numbers of people than we had before. In addition, on the
-Internet we lose many of our tricks for remembering and identifying people
-(physical characteristics, sound of the voice, etc.).
+For most of us, this limitation has not posed much of a problem in our
+daily, off-line lives. With the Internet, however, we have an ability
+to interact with vastly larger numbers of people than we had
+before. In addition, on the Internet we lose many of our tricks for
+remembering and identifying people (physical characteristics, sound of
+the voice, etc.).
Fortunately, with online communications we have easy access to tools
that can help us navigate these problems.
sign our communication in such a way that the recipient can verify the
sender.
-OpenPGP goes beyond this simple use to implement a feature known as the [web of
-trust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust). The web of trust
-allows people who have never met in person to communicate with a reasonable
-degree of certainty that they are who they say they are. It works like this:
-Person A trusts Person B. Person B verifies Person C's identity. Then, Person
-A can verify Person C's identity.
+OpenPGP goes beyond this simple use to implement a feature known as
+the [web of trust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust). The web
+of trust allows people who have never met in person to communicate
+with a reasonable degree of certainty that they are who they say they
+are. It works like this: Person A trusts Person B. Person B verifies
+Person C's identity. Then, Person A can verify Person C's identity.
-The Monkeyshpere's goal is to extend the use of OpenPGP from email
-communications to other activities, such as:
+The Monkeyshpere's broader goals are to extend the use of OpenPGP from
+email communications to other activities, such as:
* conclusively identifying the remote server in a remote login session
* granting access to servers to people we've never directly met
-## Technical Details ##
-
-The project's first goal is to integrate with
-[OpenSSH](http://openssh.com/).
+## Links ##
-OpenSSH provides a functional way for management of explicit RSA and
-DSA keys (without any type of [Public Key Infrastructure
-(PKI)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Key_Infrastructure)). The
-basic idea of this project is to create a framework that uses GPG's
-keyring manipulation capabilities and public keyservers to generate
-files that OpenSSH will accept and handle as intended. This offers
-users of OpenSSH an effective PKI, including the possibility for key
-transitions, transitive identifications, revocations, and expirations.
-It also actively invites broader participation in the OpenPGP Web of
-Trust.
+* [OpenSSH](http://openssh.com/)
+* [GnuPG](http://www.gnupg.org/)
+* [OpenPGP RFC 4880](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4880)
+* [URI scheme for SSH, RFC draft](http://tools.ietf.org/wg/secsh/draft-ietf-secsh-scp-sftp-ssh-uri/)
-Under the Monkeysphere, both parties to an OpenSSH connection (client
-and server) have a responsibility to explicitly designate who they
-trust to certify the identity of the other party. This trust
-designation is explicitly indicated with traditional GPG keyring trust
-model. No modification is made to the SSH protocol on the wire (it
-continues to use raw RSA public keys), and it should work with
-unpatched OpenSSH software.
----
projects / monkeysphere.git / commitdiff