[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
VK wrote:
Of course, storing key in plain text is less secure.
Of course.
So what do people of the real world do? I don't suppose they expect to have
to attend every server restart do they? Is there some hardware setup which can
help them with that maybe?
No. They just put in plaintext keys.
Please consider this - the server is much more vulnerable when it is up than when it is down. When it is up, the key is extracted in memory. Ergo - there is little security gained from encrypting the key to begin with. Add to that the fact that this key is fairly easy to replace (assuming a working CRL at the provider), and that it isn't typically looked at (how many people actually check that the certificate of the site they connect to actually belongs to the site?), and you get that it doesn't really matter.
When weighted against the cost of no automatic startup, the real world leaves the SSL key unencrypted. The above does not apply to other keys, of course.
In short, while in general an unencrypted key is less secure, in this particular case the difference is negligible.
Shachar
-- Shachar Shemesh Lingnu Open Source Consulting ltd. http://www.lingnu.com/
================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
