Hardening your SSH Server configuration

The following are some of the steps you can take to harden the SSH Server against unauthorized access attempts.

  • These steps should be pursued only after you have successfully configured the SSH Server, and tested that it serves the mode of use you desire.
  • After applying each hardening step, test that your desired mode of use still works.

If a hardening step has broken your configuration, you can:

Disabling password authentication

If you have configured and successfully tested public key authentication, you can disable password authentication for individual accounts:


You can also disable password authentication in Windows or virtual group settings entries, as a default for multiple accounts:


Note that users will not know that password authentication is disabled. If an SSH client is not able to connect otherwise, it will still display a password prompt. However, the SSH Server will refuse all password-based login attempts for an account, if password authentication for that account is disabled.

Password complexity

You can configure password complexity requirements for Windows accounts using Windows security policy settings:


For virtual accounts configured in the SSH Server, you can configure password complexity requirements in Advanced SSH Server settings:


Automated IP blocking

You can strengthen default IP blocking settings to block for longer, and after a smaller number of attempts:

Use the IP blocking white-list to prevent automatic blocking of known legitimate clients.

Username blacklist

You can configure a blacklist of usernames often used in password guessing, so the SSH Server will automatically block IP addresses that try them:

Client address rules

You can configure IP-based client address rules to prevent login attempts outside of known authorized internet address ranges: