You can do all necessary configurations, get kernel logs, do reboots etc. all through the cgi pages on the web portal. It is actually much faster than SSH on these miners because they always sit for a few seconds before you can connect via ssh.
Large mining operations can easily have someone to tweak their scripts and how they do configurations. However, unexperienced and smaller users who are clueless could easily get an ssh virus if any infected miners or control boards are put on the same network.
This is not true and it probably means your LAN or your computer aren't performing properly, or you are using Putty or some bloated windows client rather than proper openssh from a proper operating system.
The other reason most people want ssh access is to enable the other api controls that require editing some text file. There is also diagnostics and the multitude of things you can do from a proper Linux box, as these controllers actually are, such as network debug and configuration. I have often changed dns via ssh which from ui requires a reboot which is a travesty.
And yes there are the people using scripts to automate things, why not? you can do the whole thing without ever looking at the web ui. How are you seriously going to say that a web ui is faster than a text console? It is an order of magnitude slower, simply by data transferred alone lets ignore web browser rendering... Have i seen Bitmain miners with the web ui stuck that are actually still mining? Yes i have...
s3binator is right, the alleged "security" thing is
bologna, and yes, a simple ui option would at least give the owner a choice, but they don't care. Want security? Start with setting a proper password, then remove all windows computers from your mining lan, which is how 90% of the malware gets in.