[TriLUG] USB keychains and private keys

[Joseph Mack NA3T]

I was thinking of getting a USB keychain flashcard to store (among other
things) my private key(s). However ssh requires that your private key be
400. I assume the USB keychains are vfat, in which case you can only set
the permissions to 444, and ssh won't accep the private key (tested on a
vfat floppy).

Presumably I could put an ext3 file system on there, but then I won't be
able to use the device to transfer files to a windows machine (which
admittedly I don't do a whole lot, but would be useful to be able to do).

I understand that you're not supposed to reformat these devices a whole
lot, and that you should use cramfs if you're going to reformat them.

Do people store their private keys on these USB keychains?

Can someone straighten me out?

Thanks Joe

-- 
Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map
generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml
Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux!