from: @(#)skey.1 1.1 10/28/93
.Dd 28 October 1993 .Dt SKEY 1 .Os NetBSD 4 .Sh NAME .Nm skey .Nd interface to the S/Key one time password system .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl n Ar count .Op Fl p Ar password .Ar sequence# .Op / .Ar key .Sh DESCRIPTION .Em S/key is a procedure for using one time passwords to authenticate access to computer systems. It uses 64 bits of information transformed by the MD4 algorithm. The user supplies the 64 bits in the form of 6 English words that are generated by a secure computer. Example use of the .Em S/key program .Nm "" : % skey 99 th91334 Enter password: <your secret password is entered here> OMEN US HORN OMIT BACK AHOY %
p The programs that are part of the .Em S/Key system are: l -tag -width skeyinit... t Xr skeyinit 1 used to setup your S/Key. t Nm used to get the one time password each time. t Xr skeyinfo 1 used to extract information from the S/Key database. It tells you what your next challenge will be. .El
p When you run .Xr skeyinit 1 you inform the system of your secret password. Running .Nm skey then generates the one-time passwords, and also requires your secret password. If however, you misspell your password while running .Xr skey 1 , you will get a list of passwords that will not work, and no indication about the problem.
p Password sequence numbers count backward from 99. You can enter the passwords using small letters, even though .Xr skey 1 prints them capitalized.
p The .Fl n Ar count argument asks for .Ar count password sequences to be printed out ending with the requested sequence number.
p The .Fl p Ar password allows the user to specify the .Em S/key password on the command line. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr skeyaudit 1 , .Xr skeyinfo 1 , .Xr skeyinit 1 , .Xr login 1 , .Xr ftpd 8 .Sh TRADEMARKS AND PATENTS S/Key is a Trademark of Bellcore. .Sh AUTHORS Phil Karn, Neil M. Haller, John S. Walden, Scott Chasin
Indexes created Thu Oct 23 22:10:10 GMT 2025