chmod 700-rwx------
chmod 700 gives the owner full read, write, and execute access and denies everyone else — including the file's own group — any access at all.
Owner
You, the file's creator
Group
Everyone in the file's group
Public
Everyone else on the system
Special permissions(advanced, rarely needed)
Common presets
On a file, 700 means only the owner can read, write, or run it. This is a fully private file, invisible in practice to every other account on the system.
On a directory, 700 means only the owner can enter it, list what's inside, or modify its contents — everyone else is denied even the ability to see that files exist there. This is the standard mode for a user's home directory and for directories like ~/.ssh that hold multiple sensitive files.
When to use chmod 700
Use 700 for any directory holding private data on a shared or multi-user host: personal home directories, SSH configuration directories, private application state, or working directories for scripts that process sensitive input.
Security notes
700 is a solid default for anything that shouldn't be visible to other local users at all. It doesn't replace file-level protection for what's inside, though — pair it with 600 on individual sensitive files (like private keys) rather than relying on the directory mode alone.