Member-only story
Your Ultimate Guide to SSH: What It Is, How to Set Up, Generate Keys, and Secure Your Access.
3 min readAug 21, 2024

What is SSH?
Imagine you’re a secret agent, and you need to send a top-secret message to headquarters. But you’re worried that someone might intercept your message. This is where SSH, or Secure Shell, comes into play. SSH is like your secret agent tunnel, allowing you to communicate with another computer securely, making sure that your messages stay private and safe.
Why Do We Use SSH?
- Keeping Secrets Safe: Just like whispering a secret to a friend so no one else can hear, SSH ensures that the information you send is encrypted. This means only you and the intended computer can read the messages, keeping your data safe from prying eyes.
- Verifying Identities: Before you start sending secret messages, you need to make sure you’re talking to the right person, right? SSH does the same by checking that the computer you’re connecting to is actually the one you want, preventing any impostors from sneaking in.
- Remote Commands: Let’s say you’re on a mission far away, but you need to instruct your home base to perform a task — like launching a program or accessing files. SSH allows you to send these commands securely, like using your secret agent code to communicate.