<quote name="=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Alberto_Trevi=F1o_" date="Fri,  1 Aug 2008 at 08:43 
-0600">
> groups as necessary) is also recommended.  And, of course, using a port 
> other than 22 is a Good Thing, especially a port above 10000 (like 37422) 
> since hardly anyone will probe those ports on a fast port scan.

I'm sorry I started such a controversy here, and I'll try to be tactful
here. Here again you call changin the ssh port a "Good Thing" like it's
some magical security dust that makes things more secure. I'm simply
warning that it probably doesn't add as much security as you might
think. If you're getting thousands upon thousands of botted ssh attacks
_and_ you have a weak password, you're in trouble. You can change the
port but that won't fix your password. Someone will eventually find your
changed port and crack your weak password. If you have strong passwords
you shouldn't need to worry about those thousands of attacks, lest it be
for load concerns. If you disable passwords completely, all those
scripted attacks fall flat on their faces without so much as a shrug on
your servers end, _and_ you really are more secure in the end.

Thus, the only legitimate reason I see to change the ssh port is to
avoid excessive load where disabling passwords is not an option, and
even then there are better solutions that have already been aluded to in
this thread.

Don't take this as insulting your intelligence, rather take it as
friendly advice. If you like typing extra port numbers when you ssh,
well, be my guest, but please don't let your port obscurity lull you
into being more lax on your passwords.

Von Fugal

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