First 10 minutes on a fresh $4 VPS

First 10 minutes on a fresh $4 VPS
Just spun up a new box. Before I touch nginx I do this in order, every time:
— adduser deploy && usermod -aG sudo deploy (kill root login next)
— ssh-copy-id deploy@IP then test the login in a SECOND terminal
— In /etc/ssh/sshd_config: PermitRootLogin no, PasswordAuthentication no
— systemctl restart ssh — keep the first terminal open in case you lock yourself out
— apt update && apt upgrade -y && reboot
Clean slate, no root password to brute. Try it tonight.