[SSH](/engine/reference/glossary.md#ssh) is a secure protocol for accessing remote machines and applications. It
provides authentication and encrypts data communication over insecure networks.

These topics describe how to find existing SSH keys or generate new ones, and
add the public key to your Docker Cloud account. GitHub has a good set of
topics on [Connecting to GitHub with
SSH](https://help.github.com/articles/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/), which you
can tailor to SSH scenarios beyond GitHub, including Docker. The quick-look
topics below are derived from that GitHub documentation.

Commands for working with SSH keys are described for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
The Windows steps suggest using [Git Bash](https://git-for-windows.github.io/) but you could also use a tool like
[PuTTY](http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html) or
[Bitvise](https://www.bitvise.com/index).
