Secure a new installation of ssh in Ubuntu (checked in 14.04 and 16.04)

secure_sshd.sh

# Remember to copy your public key to the server (ssh-copy-id) before executing this, or you'll lose access to it.
# Also, be sure to either execute a command with sudo before (something like 'sudo ls' is enough) to prevent sudo asking for the password on every command

sudo sed -i 's/PermitRootLogin .*/PermitRootLogin no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo sed -i 's/#PermitEmptyPasswords .*/PermitEmptyPasswords no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo sed -i 's/#PasswordAuthentication .*/PasswordAuthentication no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config

# Remember to add an AllowUsers clause, with the correct users and network. Example:
# sudo sh -c 'echo "AllowUsers [email protected]/16" >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config

sudo service ssh restart

With ansible:

- tasks:
    - name: disallow ssh root login
      lineinfile:
        path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config
        regexp: '^PermitRootLogin '
        line: 'PermitRootLogin no'
        state: present
      notify: restart ssh server
    - name: disallow ssh empty password
      lineinfile:
        path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config
        regexp: '^PermitEmptyPasswords '
        line: 'PermitEmptyPasswords no'
        state: present
      notify: restart ssh server
    - name: disallow ssh password authentication
      lineinfile:
        path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config
        regexp: '^PasswordAuthentication '
        line: 'PasswordAuthentication no'
        state: present
      notify: restart ssh server

  handlers:
    - name: restart ssh server
      service:
        name: sshd
        state: restarted