= I'm getting a scary message when I try to login to my account using secure shell or secure FTP =

When you try to [wiki:secure_shell secure shell] (ssh) or [wiki:sftp secure FTP] to our servers, you may get a message along the lines of:

{{{
 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@    WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!     @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed.
}}}

The reason you may be getting this message is because May First/People Link has changed the "host keys" for most of our servers due to a [http://wiki.debian.org/SSLkeys security problem] discovered in the program used to generate the keys. 

To find out the correct, current "fingerprint" of our servers, please see our [wiki:fingerprints fingerprints] page.

== Making the error message go away ==

=== Using linux ===

You will need to edit your ~/.ssh/known_hosts file. The error message should specify the line number of the "offending" key. Simply delete that line in the file and try again.

=== Using Windows ===

You should see the new fingerprint. [wiki:fingerprints Confirm that it is correct] and then select the option to save this key permanently.

=== Using Macintosh ===

== What are host keys? ==

Host keys are random bits of text that are unique to every server. The randomness of the keys allows us to have a secure, encrypted connection between you and the server.