SSH private keys, dangerous to carry around or not. Was Where do you run ssh-keygen
 

Nathaniel Homier:
> Sudev Barar wrote:
>>
>> Yes, but if you are carrying private key in your pen drive and you
>> loose it or some one copies it your total security is compromised
>> howsoever strong encryption algorithm was used to generate the key
>> pair.
>
> I was under the impression that the pass phrase encrypted the file and
> that to make use of the private key I would have to supply my pass
> phrase, so I thought the private key was useless without the pass
> phrase.

Correct.

> The 4096 bit just means that it would be pretty much impossible
> with todays tech to brute force the pass phrase,

No, 4096 bit is the length of the key. Such a key is resistant to brute
force ("guessing it"). If someone has your key (encrypted with your
passphrase), the target of a brute force attack is obviously your
passphrase because it would reveal your key unencrypted.

J.
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