Comment Move to a higher order port and use denyhosts (Score 3, Informative) 497
I use one or more of these on my public facing servers.
1. Move the default ssh port to a higher order port (5000+)
2. Use Denyhosts http://denyhosts.sourceforge.net/ to block repeated attempts
3. use key exchange instead of username/password
4. use network based IPS.
Just moving the ssh port reduced the ssh brute force attack for me. Either stop being a noob or hire a sys admin.