From ed24f09f17c6f5aa8722af9facce34bbe02e3844 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Daniel Kahn Gillmor Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:33:08 -0500 Subject: wrote a first pass at explaining the concept of identity certifiers --- man/man7/monkeysphere.7 | 28 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) (limited to 'man') diff --git a/man/man7/monkeysphere.7 b/man/man7/monkeysphere.7 index 578d96c..d54bd5a 100644 --- a/man/man7/monkeysphere.7 +++ b/man/man7/monkeysphere.7 @@ -14,7 +14,33 @@ connection authentication. .SH IDENTITY CERTIFIERS -FIXME: describe identity certifier concept +Each host that uses the \fBMonkeysphere\fP to authenticate its remote +users needs some way to determine that those users are who they claim +to be. SSH permits key-based authentication, but we want instead to +bind authenticators to human-comprehensible user identities. This +switch from raw keys to User IDs makes it possible for administrators +to see intuitively who has access to an account, and it also enables +end users to transition keys (and revoke compromised ones) +automatically across all \fBMonkeysphere\fP-enabled hosts. The User +IDs and certifications that the \fBMonkeysphere\fP relies on are found +in the OpenPGP Web of Trust. + +However, in order to establish this binding, each host must know whose +cerifications to trust. Someone who a host trusts to certify User +Identities is called an Identity Certifier. A host must have at least +one Identity Certifier in order to bind User IDs to keys. Commonly, +every ID Certifier would be trusted by the host to fully identify any +User ID, but more nuanced approaches are possible as well. For +example, a given host could specify a dozen ID certifiers, but assign +them all "marginal" trust. Then any given User ID would need to be +certified in the OpenPGP Web of Trust by at least three of those +certifiers. + +It is also possible to limit the scope of trust for a given ID +Certifier to a particular domain. That is, a host can be configured +to fully (or marginally) trust a particular ID Certifier only when +they certify identities within, say, example.org (based on the e-mail +address in the User ID). .SH KEY ACCEPTABILITY -- cgit v1.2.3