bug#44808: Default to allowing password authentication on leaves users vulnerable

[Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org>]

Mark H Weaver writes:

> Hi,
>
> "Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide" <arne_bab@web.de> writes:
>> To nudge them to secure their system, guix system reconfigure could emit
>> a warning that this is a potential security risk that requires setting
>> an explicit value (password yes or no) to silence.
>
> I think this is a good idea.  Likewise, in the Guix installer, I would
> favor asking the user whether or not to enable password authentication,
> after warning them that it is a security risk.
>
> I agree with Chris that password authentication is a significant
> security risk, but I also worry that if we simply disable it, it will
> catch some users by surprise and they may be quite unhappy about it.
>
>      Regards,
>        Mark

It's clear that quite a few people are unhappy with switching the
default, fearing lockout.  I'm fine with making the above compromise
given all that, personally.