Looking at the threat landscape
If you’ve kept up with IT technology news over the past few years, you’ll likely have seen at least a few articles about how attackers have compromised Linux servers. For example, while it’s true that Linux isn’t really susceptible to virus infections, there have been several cases where attackers have planted other types of malware on Linux servers. Here are some examples:
- Botnet malware: This causes a server to join a botnet that is controlled by a remote attacker. One of the more famous cases involved joining Linux servers to a botnet that launched denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against other networks.
- Ransomware: This is designed to encrypt user data until the server owner pays a ransom fee. But even after paying the fee, there’s no guarantee that the data can be recovered.
- Cryptocoin mining software: This causes the CPUs of the server on which it’s planted to work extra hard and consume more energy. Cryptocoins that get mined go to the accounts of the attackers who planted the software.
And, of course, there have been plenty of breaches that don’t involve malware, such as where attackers have found a way to steal user credentials, credit card data, or other sensitive information.
Some security breaches come about because of plain carelessness. Here’s an example of where a careless Adobe administrator placed the company’s private security key on a public security blog: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/in-spectacular-fail-adobe-security-team-posts-private-pgp-key-on-blog/.
Now, let’s talk a bit more about security breaches.