Chapter 19: SSH Security Audit Checklist Using ssh-audit
In Chapter 19, we'll explain what ssh-audit is, how to run an SSH security audit on your Linux server, and how to fix weak algorithms and verify your hardening checklist.
In the previous chapter, you set up fail2ban to automatically ban brute force attackers and configured rate limiting at the firewall level.
You also implemented IP whitelisting to restrict SSH access to known addresses, and now your server now has multiple active defense layers working together.
But how do you know if your SSH configuration is actually as secure as you think it is? You have made individual changes across multiple chapters, but have you missed anything?
Are the cryptographic algorithms your server is advertising still considered secure? Is there a weak cipher lurking in your default config that you never noticed?
In this chapter, you will answer all of those questions. You will work through a complete SSH security checklist covering every hardening step from this module, and then use ssh-audit.
This purpose-built security auditing tool scans your SSH server and gets an objective assessment of what is strong, what is weak, and what needs fixing.
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