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Harden SSH with Key-Based Auth on CentOS VPS

Category: Security

Secure SSH—a remote access protocol—on a CentOS VPS—generate key:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

copy to server:

ssh-copy-id user@ip

disable password in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

PasswordAuthentication no

Restart:

systemctl restart sshd

On Vultr test with

ssh -i ~/.ssh/key user@ip

Ensures security—blocks brute-force attacks on VPS hosting