One of the biggest security holes you could open on your server is to allow directly<\/p>\n
logging in as root through ssh, because any cracker can attempt to brute force<\/p>\n
your root password and potentially get access to your system if they can figure out your password.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s much better to have a separate account that you regularly use and simply<\/p>\n
sudo to root when necessary. Before we begin, you should make sure that<\/p>\n
you have a regular user account and that you can su or sudo to root from it.<\/p>\n
To fix this problem, we\u2019ll need to edit the sshd_config file, which is the main configuration<\/p>\n
file for the sshd service. The location will sometimes be different, but it\u2019s usually in \/etc\/ssh\/.<\/p>\n
Open the file up while logged on as root.<\/p>\n
$ vi \/etc\/ssh\/sshd_config<\/p>\n
Find this section in the file, containing the line with \u201cPermitRootLogin\u201d in it.<\/p>\n
#LoginGraceTime 5m
\n#PermitRootLogin no
\n#StrictModes yes
\n#MaxAuthTries 6<\/p>\n
Make the line look like this to disable logging in through ssh as root. Uncomment that line<\/p>\n
PermitRootLogin no<\/p>\n
Now you\u2019ll need to restart the sshd service:<\/p>\n
\/etc\/init.d\/sshd restart<\/p>\n
Now nobody can brute force your root login, at least.<\/p>\n