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I'm setting up a server for backing up my desktop box remotely. I want to prevent remote password access to the server, permitting only users with private keys (AKA my desktop box) to access it. How can I block remote password access while allowing physical password access to the server?

2 Answers 2

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Just insert the following to the sshd config on the server (/etc/ssh/sshd_config)

PasswordAuthentication no

You might need to reload the ssh service

sudo service ssh reload

That should do the trick ;)

For more options type man sshd_config in to your terminal.

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Just a note about SSH access to servers - you may also want to disable the root user from ssh, this way at least hackers will have to guess the username as well.

PermitRootLogin no
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  • Or just lock and delete the password for the root account. (Assuming the default user has sudo access) Oct 6, 2015 at 17:57

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