More Secure SSH Connections

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by lotuseclat79, Apr 1, 2014.

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  1. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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  2. _Sim_

    _Sim_ Registered Member

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    Thanks for the link.

    Personally I don't like the idea of getting a bit more security by obscurity. It complicates things for users and don't discourage an attacker to overcome the security environment. Beside this aspect I miss fail2ban in this article. fail2ban prevents an instrusion by blocking IP addresses belong to hosts that, for example, are trying too many login attempts.
     
  3. Gullible Jones

    Gullible Jones Registered Member

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    Disallow password login from WAN (i.e. only allow authorized public keys). Brute-forcing a private key from a public key is much more difficult than brute-forcing a password, even a long password.

    Also, encrypt your private key with a nice, long, high-entropy password. The longer and less guessable the password, the better.

    ... But there is probably more that could be done. e.g. privkeys are typically encrypted with AES, and it might be better to use a slower, stronger algorithm like Twofish. If anyone knows how to use more powerful symmetric ciphers for the private key with OpenSSH, I am all ears.
     
  4. root_my_face

    root_my_face Registered Member

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    Agree with the above; fail2ban, disabling root (from ssh), and key only login is the way to go.

    Password logins without fail2ban will get brute forced sooner or later.
     
  5. NGRhodes

    NGRhodes Registered Member

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    Shame no mention is using 2 factor auth for SSH.
     
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