There's been a big rise in ransomware attacks targeting Linux as cyber criminals look to expand their options and exploit an operating system that is often overlooked when businesses think about security.
According to analysis by cybersecurity researchers at Trend Micro, Linux servers are "increasingly coming under fire" from ransomware attacks, with detections up by 75% over the course of the last year as cyber criminals look to expand their attacks beyond Windows operating systems.
[...] Researchers note that ransomware groups are increasingly tailoring their attacks to focus specifically on Linux systems.
For example, LockBit is one of the most prolific and successful ransomware operations of recent times and now offers the option of a Linux-based variant that is designed to target Linux systems and has been used to conduct attacks in the wild.
[...] And it isn't just ransomware groups that are increasingly turning their attentions towards Linux – according to Trend Micro, there's been a 145% increase in Linux-based cryptocurrency-mining malware attacks, where cyber criminals secretly exploit the power of infected computers and servers to mine for cryptocurrency for themselves.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jb on Thursday September 08 2022, @03:53AM
Then clearly those criminals have more sense than the average corporate CTO.
So the solution should be obvious -- sack all the "Windows shop" CTOs and offer their jobs to the criminals: in one fell swoop we could both wipe out most of the ransomware market and increase the efficiency & productivity of most corporate IT departments. What's not to love?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Thursday September 08 2022, @08:20AM
More anti-Linux FUD from ZDNet.
<sarcasm>I am so surprised</sarcasm>.
Public facing Linux boxes are under continuous attack. So what? That's not a big deal for two reasons. First, all those attacks are targeted for legacy operating systems like the various iterations of Windows Vista/Vista7/Vista8/Vista10/Vista11 and therefore Linux is unaffected. So as far as the Linux boxes go, that is at most just log noise. Second, Linux and, for the most part, the applications run on it are designed much differently the vulnerable ones. In particular things have been kept fairly simple, compartmentalized, and with minimal privileges. However, that is changing and that change is something to worry about. By the time the systems start getting cracked, the weaknesses will be widely deployed.
tldr; don't allow anyone to use a Windows computer to access important suff [odysee.com].
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PiMuNu on Thursday September 08 2022, @10:47AM
> an operating system that is often overlooked when businesses think about security
Quite the opposite - linux is exactly the OS businesses go to when they think about security.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday September 09 2022, @09:40AM
Linux is the system most appliances aiming for an integrated OS take a look at. It's small, it's very configurable and it's free. In other words, it's the perfect candidate for your average IoT device.
The average IoT device is also designed by engineers who may or may not be very good designers of the device that now has to get "on the internet" properties, but they are only average, at best, with Linux and have ZERO clue about securing that system. Plus, they don't get any time to even bother with security. It compiles, it works, ship it.
And these are the things that are getting targeted because they are easy targets for hacking.
So yes, in a way you could say that "hackers are increasingly targeting Linux". But you might want to take a closer look at what exactly they're targeting.