While applying security modifications on the server, one of the most important tweak we should execute is to disable direct root login which will force the hacker to think 2 separate passwords to obtain root access.
Following actions will show you how to turn off direct root login. If you are using cPanel server make sure that you add another user through you can ssh.
adduser admin passwd admin
Add admin user to the ‘wheel’ group so that you will be able to ‘su -‘ to main, otherwise you may lock yourself out of root.
vi /etc/group wheel:x:10:root,admin
Copy and paste the following line to edit the SSH login file
vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Find the line
Protocol 2, 1
Uncomment it and change it to
Protocol 2
Next find the line
PermitRootLogin yes
Uncomment it and change it to
PermitRootLogin no
Save the file and now you can restart SSH
/etc/rc.d/init.d/sshd restart
Thats it!