Stop SSH Brute Force Attacks

TL;DR

Someone is trying to guess passwords for your AWS t2.micro instance via SSH. We’ll harden security by disabling password logins, using key-based authentication, and limiting login attempts with fail2ban.

Steps

1. Connect to Your Instance

Use SSH to connect to your AWS t2.micro instance as the user you normally use (e.g., ec2-user, ubuntu). You’ll need your private key file (.pem) and the public IP address of the instance.

ssh -i /path/to/your/key.pem ec2-user@your_public_ip

2. Update Your System

Ensure your system is up to date before making changes:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y 

(If using a different Linux distribution, use the appropriate package manager commands – e.g., yum update for CentOS/RHEL).

3. Disable Password Authentication

Edit the SSH daemon configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find the line PasswordAuthentication yes and change it to PasswordAuthentication no. Also, ensure that ChallengeResponseAuthentication no is set.

Save the file (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter).

4. Restart SSH Service

Restart the SSH service for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart sshd

5. Test Key-Based Authentication

Open a new terminal window. Try connecting using your private key. This confirms password authentication is disabled and key-based login works.

ssh -i /path/to/your/key.pem ec2-user@your_public_ip

6. Install Fail2ban

Fail2ban monitors log files for failed login attempts and automatically blocks the offending IP addresses.

sudo apt install fail2ban -y

7. Configure Fail2ban (SSH Jail)

Copy the default SSH jail configuration file:

sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

Edit /etc/fail2ban/jail.local using a text editor (e.g., nano):

sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

Under the [sshd] section, ensure these settings are present and configured:

• enabled = true
• port = ssh (or your custom SSH port)
• logpath = %(sshd_log)s
• bantime = 600 (Ban for 10 minutes. Adjust as needed.)
• maxretry = 3 (Ban after 3 failed attempts. Adjust as needed.)

Save the file.

8. Restart Fail2ban Service

Restart Fail2ban to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart fail2ban

9. Check Fail2ban Status

Verify that Fail2ban is running and monitoring SSH logs:

sudo fail2ban-client status sshd

This will show you the number of currently banned IPs.

10. Optional: Change Default SSH Port

Changing the default port (22) can reduce automated attacks. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and change the Port 22 line to a different, non-standard port number (e.g., Port 2222). Remember to update your security group rules in AWS to allow traffic on the new port.