4 ms·

First Botnet of Linux Web Servers Discovered

14 points by dimas 17y ago

bravura 17y ago
"But in addition to running an Apache webserver to dish up benign content, they've also been hacked to run a second webserver known as nginx, which serves malware." This poor writing, especially the use of the non-restrictive relative clause ("which", not "that"), suggests that nginx is designed to serve malware almost exclusively.
- texel 17y ago
  "nginx is a specialized second webserver that can serve any kind of malware"
  - ars 17y ago
    Are you quoting? Because that is not true. It's just a webserver, general purpose use.
    - texel 17y ago
      I took my inspiration from here: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9a5l7/xml_is_a_specialized_alphabet_that_can_capture/ http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9a5l7/xml_is_a_... Yes, I'm aware... I use nginx every day at work. Great little webserver :)
- anonjon 17y ago
  that jumped out at me too. to any lay-reader it sounds like ngnix is a web-server specifically designed for 'serving malware'. thankfully they have libel laws in the UK.
DarrenMills 17y ago
So if linux and macs got malware and viruses as often as PCs who would be out front? Microsoft should hire people to start writing mac viruses.
- zyb09 17y ago
  as PCs? you mean as Windows. Anyway isn't there a IE5 version or something for mac? That thing should could easily be classified as malware for mac written by microsoft.
  - duskwuff 17y ago
    There was, but it was discontinued by Microsoft in 2005 when Safari was released.
NathanKP 17y ago
Is this a first linux botnet or a first web server botnet? The article makes it slightly difficult to figure out which it is. In a way it only makes sense for bots to take over webservers as that gives them a better gateway to hundreds of other clients. I'm surprised we haven't heard of botnets like this years ago. Maybe they were just too well hidden before.
- duskwuff 17y ago
  The latter, if either. Linux botnets have existed for eons... I remember seeing one in 2004, and I'm sure they existed much earlier than that.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
caffeine 17y ago
I think this article is a joke, no? I mean, "a second webserver known as nginx, which serves malware," cooked up by evil Russians, deviously operating on port 8080? Hehe. I think it's quite good, actually.

14 points by dimas 17y ago

"But in addition to running an Apache webserver to dish up benign content, they've also been hacked to run a second webserver known as nginx, which serves malware." This poor writing, especially the use of the non-restrictive relative clause ("which", not "that"), suggests that nginx is designed to serve malware almost exclusively.

texel 17y ago
"nginx is a specialized second webserver that can serve any kind of malware"
- ars 17y ago
  Are you quoting? Because that is not true. It's just a webserver, general purpose use.
  - texel 17y ago
    I took my inspiration from here: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9a5l7/xml_is_a_specialized_alphabet_that_can_capture/ http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9a5l7/xml_is_a_... Yes, I'm aware... I use nginx every day at work. Great little webserver :)
anonjon 17y ago
that jumped out at me too. to any lay-reader it sounds like ngnix is a web-server specifically designed for 'serving malware'. thankfully they have libel laws in the UK.

DarrenMills 17y ago

So if linux and macs got malware and viruses as often as PCs who would be out front? Microsoft should hire people to start writing mac viruses.

zyb09 17y ago
as PCs? you mean as Windows. Anyway isn't there a IE5 version or something for mac? That thing should could easily be classified as malware for mac written by microsoft.
- duskwuff 17y ago
  There was, but it was discontinued by Microsoft in 2005 when Safari was released.

NathanKP 17y ago

Is this a first linux botnet or a first web server botnet? The article makes it slightly difficult to figure out which it is. In a way it only makes sense for bots to take over webservers as that gives them a better gateway to hundreds of other clients. I'm surprised we haven't heard of botnets like this years ago. Maybe they were just too well hidden before.

duskwuff 17y ago
The latter, if either. Linux botnets have existed for eons... I remember seeing one in 2004, and I'm sure they existed much earlier than that.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

caffeine 17y ago

I think this article is a joke, no? I mean, "a second webserver known as nginx, which serves malware," cooked up by evil Russians, deviously operating on port 8080? Hehe. I think it's quite good, actually.