FakeSSH

FakeSSH is an SSH server which denies all login requests sent its way. It's the result of literally minutes of work.

Move your real SSH server to a different port, then run the FakeSSH server.

Why?

In a sense, FakeSSH is based on the idea that security through obscurity is kind of like adding a single bit to your security, the value of which is widely known. It might actually prevent a targeted attack by an unskilled attacker.

Mostly, though, I just like the idea that someone is wasting time trying to log into a server which will literally never let them in.

Requirements

• python
• paramiko

Use

1. Create an RSA key using ssh_keygen. Save it to data/rsa.
2. Copy data/config.sample.json to data/config.json
3. Edit if desired.
4. Run server.py with python.

If you're on Ubuntu, you could create an upstart script at /etc/init/fakessh.conf:

# fakessh
description "A fake SSH server"
author "Tyler Menezes <tylermenezes@gmail.com>"
start on runlevel [2345]
stop on runlevel [016]
respawn
exec python /opt/fakessh/server.py

Graphing

If you enable logging, you can run python stats.py to get statistics about login attempts. --today will get you the count today, and --hist will produce a graph of the last week. (You can use them both together.)