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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Rare malware targets routers running Linux | ITworld

Security

Rare malware targets routers running Linux

Odds you'll get hit are low, but the impact would be high

March 10, 2011, 12:27 PM — 

More evidence malware writers have become at least as sophisticated as the companies they target:

Trend Micro reports a new bit of malware circulating as an executable that targets routers running operating systems or kernels based on Unix, Linux and other Unix-like embedded operating systems.


The code arrives as an Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) -- Unix or Linux executable file -- that creates a backdoor into Internet Relay Chat applications. It may also do brute-force attacks to get username/password lists from the routers they infect.

Most infections by the trojan called ELF_Tsunami-R so far have been in Latin America, especially against D-Link routers, though it probably works on others as well.

There are desperately few bits of malware designed to attack Linux machines, especially compared to Windows, or even the MacOS.

But they do exist.

Linux-based routers have also been targeted successfully in the past, at least once to build a botnet of respectable size.

Go there...
http://www.itworld.com/security/139720/rare-malware-targets-routers-running-linux

Don

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