-[[!template id="nav"]]
+[[!meta title="The Monkeysphere Project"]]
+[[!meta license="Unless otherwise noted, all content on this web site is licensed under the GPL version 3 or later"]]
+[[!meta copyright="All content on this web site is copyright by the author of that content. [Look in the revision control system](community) for details about who authored a particular piece of content."]]
-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.
+# The Monkeysphere Project #
-Specifically, monkeysphere is a framework to leverage the OpenPGP web
-of trust for OpenSSH authentication. In other words, it allows you to
-use your OpenPGP keys when using secure shell to both identify
-yourself and the servers you administer or connect to. OpenPGP keys
-are tracked via GnuPG, and managed in the `known_hosts` and
-`authorized_keys` files used by OpenSSH for connection authentication.
+The Monkeysphere project's goal is to extend OpenPGP's web of trust to
+new areas of the Internet to help us securely identify each other
+while we work online.
-## Conceptual overview ##
+Specifically, monkeysphere currently offers a framework to leverage
+the OpenPGP web of trust for OpenSSH authentication.
+
+In other words, it allows you to use secure shell as you normally do,
+but to identify yourself and the servers you administer or connect to
+with your OpenPGP keys. OpenPGP keys are tracked via GnuPG, and
+monkeysphere manages the `known_hosts` and `authorized_keys` files
+used by OpenSSH for authentication, checking them for cryptographic
+validity.
+
+## Overview ##
Everyone who has used secure shell is familiar with the prompt given
the first time you log in to a new server, asking if you want to trust
the server's key by verifying the key fingerprint. Unfortunately,
unless you have access to the server's key fingerprint through a
secure out-of-band channel, there is no way to verify that the
-fingerprint you are presented with is in fact that of the server your
-really trying to connect to.
+fingerprint you are presented with is in fact that of the server
+you're really trying to connect to.
Many users also take advantage of OpenSSH's ability to use RSA or DSA
keys for authenticating to a server (known as
The basic idea of the Monkeysphere is to create a framework that uses
[GnuPG](http://www.gnupg.org/)'s keyring manipulation capabilities and
public keyserver communication to manage the keys that OpenSSH uses
-for connection authentication.
+for connection authentication.
The Monkeysphere therefore provides an effective PKI for OpenSSH,
including the possibility for key transitions, transitive
[OpenPGP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openpgp) [web of
trust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust).
-## Technical details ##
-
Under the Monkeysphere, both parties to an OpenSSH connection (client
and server) explicitly designate who they trust to certify the
identity of the other party. These trust designations are explicitly
indicated with traditional GPG keyring trust models. Monkeysphere
-then manages the keys in the `known_hosts` and `authorized_keys`
-files directly, in such a way that is completely transparent to SSH.
-No modification is made to the SSH protocol on the wire (it continues
-to use raw RSA public keys), and no modification is needed to the
-OpenSSH software.
-
-To emphasize: *no modifications to SSH are required to use the
-Monkeysphere*. OpenSSH can be used as is; completely unpatched and
+then manages the keys in the `known_hosts` and `authorized_keys` files
+directly, in such a way that is completely transparent to `ssh`. No
+modification is made to the SSH protocol on the wire (it continues to
+use raw RSA public keys), and no modification is needed to the OpenSSH
+software.
+
+To emphasize: ***no modifications to SSH are required to use the
+Monkeysphere***. OpenSSH can be used as is; completely unpatched and
"out of the box".
-## Philosophy ##
-
-Humans (and
-[monkeys](http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-17/mi-17.html))
-have the innate capacity to keep track of the identities of only a
-finite number of people. After our social sphere exceeds several dozen
-or several hundred (depending on the individual), our ability to
-remember and distinguish people begins to break down. In other words,
-at a certain point, we can't know for sure that the person we ran into
-in the 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.).
-
-Fortunately, with online communications we have easy access to tools
-that can help us navigate these problems.
-[OpenPGP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openpgp) (a cryptographic
-protocol commonly used for sending signed and encrypted email
-messages) is one such tool. In its simplest form, it allows us to
-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
-because of their trust of Person B.
-
-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
-
-## Links ##
-
-* [OpenSSH](http://openssh.com/)
-* [GnuPG](http://www.gnupg.org/)
-* [Secure Shell Authentication Protocol RFC 4252](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4252)
-* [OpenPGP RFC 4880](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4880)
+## License ##
+
+All Monkeysphere software is copyright, 2007-2010, by [the
+authors](community), and released under [GPL, version 3 or
+later](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html).
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