Botnet of Linux Servers with Dynamic IP Discovered

From the headline you'd almost believe that Linux might be as vulnerable to being part of the world wide botnet as Windows is. It turns out it isn't so. Poor security (passwords, management software) is the culprit and Linux is being used to infect Windows.

But wait, didn't the original article speculate that Windows was used to infect linux? That system admins used the same Linux passwords as they used for FTP to/from Windows, and someone used those passwords to gain access to the mere hundreds of linux boxes?

One more thing to note: apparently, it's quite simple to detect what the "infection" is. An nginx web server listening on TCP port 8080. This is opposed to "web browser objects" loaded into IE, or those weird little modules you load into IIS, which are almost invisible. Even here, the simple basic design of linux makes things easier to figure out than the baroque design of windows.

"Baroque".

"Broke."

Coincidence? You decide.

Yeah, it's baroque, and it needs fixed.

Of course, Microsoft engineering and veterenarians both have the same definition of "fixed."

gus3: Baroque music is not broken. I seriously object to you slamming Bach, Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Telemann, Albinoni, Scarlatti, Monteverd, and many other fine composers.

I go for baroque all the time. Big risk-taker, me.

@caitlyn:

Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Albinoni: +1

Bach: +0.5

Telemann, Scarlatti: -1

Monteverd: Neutral

I'll take Verdi's generation any day, but that's just me. I don't expect others without my fine tastes to understand. ;-)

Robert Johnson, BB King, Buddy Guy, Sony Boy Williamson, Cripple Clarence Lofton, Blind Lemon Jeffereson, Alberta Hunter, Son House, Ma Rainy, John Lee Hooker.

Sorry ,they aren't barouque, they're Balues

@tracyanne:

No Sting? No Don Henley?

If you think they aren't blues singers, try listening to the "Leaving Las Vegas" soundtrack.

@gus3, just because they're depressing doesn't mean they're blues singers.

*ducks*

Belues? Meh. Belugas rule. http://www.dolphinear.com/data/whale_songs.htm

@rj:

And just because they're blues singers, doesn't mean they're depressing. Viz. Weird Al Yankovic.

Did some one say Belugrass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxNcoIvCbJ8&feature=related

@gus

Love some Weird Al, "In 3D" was played to death when I was a kid.

Boy howdy, that's some botnet, an astounding couple of hundred servers. My my my. Even worse, they have a Dynamic Internet Protocol. This sounds very bad, and proof that the windows fanbois are right.

Looks like we have a new astroturfer on our hands. Someone posting under the name "tuxchick" to throw us off. You may have tux in your name but that doesn't mean you use Linux.

It sounds like some admins didn't run their Bastille. Shins, meet steel-toed boot.

@bigg:

Yeah, one of the girls in my senior class wore a tux to the prom. complete with top hat, cummerbund, and spats. Her outfit was sharper and snappier than all the guys' tuxedoes.

And I know she doesn't use Linux.

> and many other fine composers.

PDQ Bach comes to mind.

Oh, you said "fine" composers. Sorry.

Quoting:...than the baroque design of windows.

You people obviously were wrong about this being about music: Baroque refers to how the Cathedral named Windows was build. Solid, like rock. Like a Bastille. With some Windows in it to look at different believes, but not being able to reach those without leaving the Cathedral forever. But nobody wants to leave the Cathedral, because it's what runs er... I mean ran the LSE.

Linux, on the other hand, can collapse after any light breeze because it's only fabric tied with some thin lines to some unstable/untested frames only used by amateurs. And it could be broken up and taken elsewhere any minute. Meaning you can't trust it to still be there tomorrow. Nobody - or everybody owns it. That failure to provide a hierachy (of leaders, not of a filesystem!) could only lead to arguments and fights.

Well, at least you could break up the bazaar before the bots invade. Then the bots will happily attack the church.

Conclusion? Well, none, because it's all nonsense what I just wrote. Except for the LSE of course.