Because ssh servers on the internet are commonly subject to brute-force password attacks, it is recommended that you disable password-based logins and use public/private key authentication. Here's how.
On the local machine, in your home directory's .ssh
subdirectory (which you should create and make only
owner readable/executable if it doesn't exist; e.g by
typing mkdir ~/.ssh && chmod 0700 ~/.ssh
), you
should execute the command ssh-keygen -t dsa
,
enter a password, and accept the default names for files
(by pressing ENTER).
Before you attempt to connect to remote machine, execute
the command ssh-add
.
If you add the package ssh-askpass or ssh-askpass-gnome on Debian with GNOME, or on Ubuntu, ssh-add well be executed whenever you login to your graphical session, meaning you will get a window asking you to enter your SSH passphrase on login.