verify RSA 2048

[Dustin Seeger]

I am using OpenSSH version 4.3p2. I was wondering how I could verify
that the data going from one computer to another over the internet is
using RSA 2048. I set both of the keys on each machine to that bit
strength. Is there a tool out there that I can you that could verify
that the information is being sent at 2048 or is even being encrypted?

Thanks,

[Jeff Sadowski]

This goes along with my question on decrypting ssh
From what I gather ssh does not use RSA to encrypt. It uses RSA to Authenticate.
And uses a faster method to form a secure channel.
I'm kind of curious as to what others have to say I could be mislead.
I would like to know if there is a way to increase the amount of
encryption that ssh uses
and by your question I think you would also be interested.

Post by Dustin Seeger
I am using OpenSSH version 4.3p2. I was wondering how I could verify
that the data going from one computer to another over the internet is
using RSA 2048. I set both of the keys on each machine to that bit
strength. Is there a tool out there that I can you that could verify
that the information is being sent at 2048 or is even being encrypted?
Thanks,
--
Dustin

[Jose]

The mechanism to encrypt the information will be negotiated as stated by

http://www.openssh.org/txt/draft-ietf-secsh-architecture-12.txt
-------snip
3.3 Policy Issues

The protocol allows _full_negotiation_of_encryption_, integrity, key
exchange, compression, and public key algorithms and formats.
Encryption, integrity, public key, and compression algorithms can be
different for each direction.
-------snip

Options may be:
Ciphers:
AES-*, twofish, blowfish, 3des, rc4
MACs:
MD5, SHA1

Use "ssh -vvv" if you want to see what you actually use for each connection.

Post by Jeff Sadowski
This goes along with my question on decrypting ssh
From what I gather ssh does not use RSA to encrypt. It uses RSA to Authenticate.
And uses a faster method to form a secure channel.
I'm kind of curious as to what others have to say I could be mislead.
I would like to know if there is a way to increase the amount of
encryption that ssh uses
and by your question I think you would also be interested.

Post by Dustin Seeger
I am using OpenSSH version 4.3p2. I was wondering how I could verify
that the data going from one computer to another over the internet is
using RSA 2048. I set both of the keys on each machine to that bit
strength. Is there a tool out there that I can you that could verify
that the information is being sent at 2048 or is even being encrypted?
Thanks,
--
Dustin

[Leif Nixon]

Post by Jeff Sadowski
I would like to know if there is a way to increase the amount of
encryption that ssh uses

If you read the fine documentation you'll see that there are several
ways of specifying what cipher to use.

[Leif Nixon]

Post by Dustin Seeger
Is there a tool out there that I can you that could verify
that the information is being sent at 2048 or is even being encrypted?

Use a tool like tcpdump/ethereal/wireshark to snoop the network
connection to see whether the communication is encrypted or not.