Lock down your Ubuntu server by enabling SSH key authentication and disabling both root and password logins. In this step-by-step beginner guide, you’ll create a non-root sudo user, generate a key pair, copy your public key to your server, and harden your sshd_config so only key-based logins are permitted. Help me decide what videos to make next 👉 (survey link) ⏪ Watch previous (firewall setup): 📺 Full Playlist – Build & Secure Your VPS Website: What You’ll Learn ✅ Add a non-root user with sudo privileges ✅ Generate SSH key pair with ssh-keygen ✅ Copy your public key with ssh-copy-id ✅ Disable root login and password authentication ✅ Update sshd_config for key-only access ✅ Restart SSH and verify your hardened setup ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Intro & why key-based SSH matters 00:36 Create a non-root sudo user 01:37 Use native SSH client 02:35 Generate SSH key pair 03:36 Copy your public key to the server 04:30 Test key-only SSH login 04:45 Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config 07:04 Restart SSH service 07:34 Verify root and password logins are disabled Important sshd_config File Changes: PermitRootLogin no PasswordAuthentication nos PermitEmptyPasswords no KbdInteractiveAuthentication no UsePAM no X11Forwarding no AuthenticationMethods publickey AllowUsers tony