Remote Host ID Changed

You may sometimes get a warning like:

WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!

Don’t panic. It just means: the key stored on your laptop no longer matches the server.

It is normal after lab rebuilds — not proof that someone is attacking you — but you should confirm the new key before trusting it.

1. On campus or on the VPN, open the department fingerprint list:
   https://cssyslog.cs.williams.edu/show_fingerprints.cgi
2. Find the machine you are connecting to and note its current fingerprint.
3. Remove the old key from your computer (use the same hostname you SSH to):

ssh-keygen -R hostname.cs.williams.edu

Example: ssh-keygen -R lohani.cs.williams.edu

4. SSH again. When prompted, compare the fingerprint SSH shows with the one on the fingerprint page. Only type yes if they match.