I don't think this is over- or under- kill. This is the correct amount of kill and done earlier than it needs to be. This is a move that is always wished for in

I don't think this is over- or under- kill. This is the correct amount of kill and done earlier than it needs to be. This is a move that is always wished for in hindsight after something bad happens. In an alternate universe where they don't make this change and raspberry pis are included in a massive attack because of their intentionally well-known default root account is listening on a running-by-default sshd, everyone would be screaming about the raspi foundations rampant incompetence. The only place this will sting is in un-maintained 'how to set up your new raspberry pi's SD card' tutorials. I believe that most users who want to set up a headless pi can handle this change with no problem.