[18pfsmt]

You should probably change your root password at this point since the default root password is the same for all devices.

[desigooner]

The first thing I tried was to change the password (iPhone 4 4.3.3) after jailbreaking but the MobileTerminal crashes upon launch. Same story after a phone restart.

Edit: Figured out the problem. Looks like the MobileTerminal in the CYdia repo doesn't work for iOS 4.0 onwards. The following is a working version from the author of the app:

http://code.google.com/p/mobileterminal/wiki/Installation

[wofser]

Even if I don't install OpenSSH from Cydia?

[Xuzz]

No real need if you don't: there's no additional vector added by the jailbreak to even try entering a password if you don't have sshd installed.

[smackfu]

It seems like random packages like to install OpenSSH as a dependency though.