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SSHGUARD(8)			SSHGuard Manual			   SSHGUARD(8)

NAME
       sshguard	- block	brute-force attacks by aggregating system logs

SYNOPSIS
       sshguard	 [-hv]	[-a  threshold]	[-b threshold:blacklist_file] [-i pid-
       file] [-p blocktime] [-s	detection_time]	[-w address |  whitelist_file]
       [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
       sshguard	 protects hosts	from brute-force attacks against SSH and other
       services. It aggregates system logs and blocks repeat  offenders	 using
       one of several firewall backends.

       sshguard	 can  monitor  log  files and the standard output of running a
       shell command. Log messages are parsed line-by-line for recognized  at-
       tack  patterns.	 Attackers are blocked when enough attack patterns are
       detected	in a configurable time interval. Attackers  are	 blocked  tem-
       porarily	 but  can  also	be permanently blocked using the blacklist op-
       tion.

       sshguard	 must  be  configured  before  its   first   run.   See	  ssh-
       guard-setup(7).

OPTIONS
       -a threshold (default 30)
	      Each  detected attack increases an attacker's attack score, usu-
	      ally by 10.  Block attackers when	 their	attack	score  exceeds
	      threshold.

       -b threshold:blacklist_file
	      Blacklist	 an  attacker when its attack score exceeds threshold.
	      Blacklisted addresses are	written	to  blacklist-file  and	 never
	      unblocked, even after restarting sshguard.

       -i pidfile
	      Write  the  PID  of sshguard to pidfile. pidfile is removed when
	      sshguard exits.

       -p blocktime (default 120)
	      Block first-time attackers  for  blocktime  seconds.  Subsequent
	      blocks  increase	in duration by a factor	of 1.5.	Since sshguard
	      unblocks attackers at random intervals, actual block  times  may
	      be somewhat longer.

       -s detection_time (default 1800)
	      Reset  an	 attacker's  attack score after	detection_time seconds
	      since the	last attack. This  means  that	attackers  who	attack
	      every detection_time seconds are never blocked by	sshguard. How-
	      ever,  an	increased detection_time may have an impact on legiti-
	      mate users.

       [-w address | whitelist_file]
	      Whitelist	a single address, hostname, or address block given  as
	      address. This option can be given	multiple times.	Alternatively,
	      provide  an  absolute  path  to  a whitelist_file	containing ad-
	      dresses to whitelist. See	WHITELISTING.

       -h     Print usage information and exit.

       -v     Print version information	and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       SSHGUARD_DEBUG
	      Set to enable verbose output from	sshg-blocker.

FILES
       %PREFIX%/etc/sshguard.conf
	      See sample configuration file.

WHITELISTING
       Whitelisted addresses are never blocked.	Addresses can be specified  on
       the command line	or be stored in	a file.

       On  the	command	 line, give the	-w option one or more times with an IP
       address,	CIDR address block, or hostname	as an argument.	Hostnames  are
       resolved	once at	startup. If a hostname resolves	to multiple addresses,
       all of them are whitelisted. For	example:

	  sshguard -w 192.168.1.10 -w 192.168.0.0/24 -w	friend.example.com
	      -w 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
	      -w 2002:836b:4179::836b:0000/126

       If  the	argument to -w begins with a forward slash ('/') or dot	('.'),
       the argument is treated as the path to a	whitelist file.

       The whitelist file contains comments (lines beginning  with  '#'),  ad-
       dresses,	address	blocks,	or hostnames, one per line.

SEE ALSO
       sshguard-setup(7)

2.4				March 16, 2021			   SSHGUARD(8)

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