Private Key Trust Issues

Discussions focus on security concerns, misconceptions about public vs. private keys, and trust risks in third-party key generation, storage, and sharing in cryptography.

📉 Falling 0.4x Security
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Keywords

MS filippo.io pgpkeys.eu rediris.es ECDSA U2F PIN graph.html SSH GPG key private key private public key keys private keys public ssh public private trust

Sample Comments

kordless Jun 16, 2014 View on HN

Because public keys are somewhat publicly available information?

bigstrat2003 May 1, 2024 View on HN

It's a public key. You should operate under the assumption that anyone could have it at any time.

petre Dec 25, 2025 View on HN

With other private keys stored somewhere. You're just kicking the can down the road.

Tinyyy Jun 7, 2016 View on HN

How can your users trust that you do not keep a copy of the private key?

ygjb Oct 11, 2012 View on HN

letting someone else generate your private key, seems legit!

chacham15 Apr 21, 2013 View on HN

Why would the government have your private key? All they need is your public one.

Bromskloss Jun 30, 2016 View on HN

Doesn't it amount to them knowing your public key?

kinakomochidayo Sep 29, 2022 View on HN

Sure I guess, if you want to share private keys with friends.

BenjiWiebe Jun 18, 2025 View on HN

Sharing private keys gets around all that.

leereeves Jan 6, 2024 View on HN

How will they keep the private keys secret?