ssh will not connect – Connection closed by remote host

Question:

When I try to connect with ssh I get an error such as “ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host”. I know that ssh is enabled on my account. What is wrong?

Answer:

Usually these errors are caused when an attacker is scanning for badly configured servers with default usernames and passwords or easy to guess passwords. Our scripts detect and block such scans/attacks but there can be times during the attack when all connections are taken and the server refuses new connections. Your server is safe and such attacks/scans are part of the day-to-day life of servers on the internet. Usually you never notice the effects but in rare cases there can be disruptions.

A temporary work-around is to connect to ssh on port 23. Many of our servers run ssh on port 23 as well as port 22. You can try to connect to port 23 with:

ssh your_username@your_server.com -p 23

or change the port from 22 to 23 in your client.

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