This discussion tends towards tediousness because people never define the security goals they're trying to achieve with their pet definitions. Yes: moving your

This discussion tends towards tediousness because people never define the security goals they're trying to achieve with their pet definitions. Yes: moving your ssh daemon to run on a different port is "futile" if your goal is to prevent a competent attacker that is single-mindedly focused on attacking a specific host and willing to continue investing time and effort until they succeed. Yes: having a port-knocking sequence is "futile" if your goal is to prevent an attacker that has the ability to perform full packet capture on all your traffic and is prepared to wait and observe an incoming ssh connection. But, on the other hand: Yes: having ssh at all is "futile" if your goal is to prevent an attacker that has the ability to identify your authorized users and then compromise them by kidnapping their families and threatening to murder them.