Touch up VPS s e c u r i t y notes

https://lobste.rs/s/gvo8fy/thoughts_on_having_ssh_allow_password

I feel seen 🙈

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 18 deletions

diff --git a/guides/sysadmin/cloud/vps.org b/guides/sysadmin/cloud/vps.org
index 317cb27..d7b9b5a 100644
--- a/guides/sysadmin/cloud/vps.org
+++ b/guides/sysadmin/cloud/vps.org
@@ -1,39 +1,45 @@
 * Security
-** Switch APT to HTTPS
+** APT
+*** Switch to HTTPS
 ~sudo sed -i 's/http:/https:/' /etc/apt/sources.list~
 
 Granted, the repository signature provides enough protection; still,
 no sense in wasting bandwidth and CPU if someone is meddling.
-** Tweak root access
-On OVH's Debian image:
-- The =root= account has no password.
-- =PermitRootLogin= defaults to =prohibit-password=: set it to =no=.
-** Enable fail2ban
+** fail2ban
 ~lastb~ says there's about 4000 login attempts per day; that makes
 =/var/log/btmp= much bigger than it needs to be.
 
 Debian's fail2ban comes with a jail for ~sshd~, so it's just a matter
 of ~apt install fail2ban~.
-** Tweak user accounts
-=debian= seems mildly popular among bots looking for valid usernames.
+** Accounts
+*** =root=
+On OVH's Debian image:
+- The =root= account has no password.
+- =PermitRootLogin= defaults to =prohibit-password=: set it to =no=.
+*** =debian=
+Seems popular among bots looking for valid usernames.
 
-Ideally I'd just rename the =debian= account, but renaming does not
-seem to be a very well-defined operation: ~usermod --login $name
---move-home --home /home/$name debian~ gets partway there, but leaves
-a bunch of miscellany to take care of (e.g. sudoers).
+Ideally I'd just rename the =debian= account, but renaming is not a
+well-defined operation: ~usermod --login $name --move-home --home
+/home/$name debian~ gets partway there, but leaves a bunch of
+miscellany to take care of (e.g. sudoers).
 
-So instead, I'll
-- create my own user account: ~sudo adduser $name~
+So instead,
+- create my own user account: ~sudo adduser 𝓊~
 - add it to all groups =debian= belongs to:
   #+begin_src sh
   groups=$(groups | tr ' ' '\n' | grep -v debian | paste -sd,)
-  sudo usermod --append --groups ${groups} ${name}
+  sudo usermod --append --groups ${groups} 𝓊
+  #+end_src
+- only allow authentication over SSH for this user:
+  #+begin_src conf
+  AllowUsers 𝓊
   #+end_src
-- only allow password authentication over SSH for this new user
-  account:
+- in case I ever change my mind about =AllowUsers=, at least limit
+  password authentication to this user:
   #+begin_src conf
   PasswordAuthentication no
-  Match User …
+  Match User 𝓊
   	PasswordAuthentication yes
   #+end_src