Linux hacked ?!

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Has your linux OS security ever been compromised by an outside attack ?

yes
2
5%
no
41
95%
 
Total votes: 43

niowluka

Linux hacked ?!

Post by niowluka »

Sorry about the somewhat flashy title. My previous threads (with actual problems) gathered little to no attention, so I'm curious to see what will this one yield.

Anyway, to the point: there have been numerous bits of news recently with end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it security threats: shellshock, jellyfish, firmware hacking, hacks on Kaspersky and countless other cases ... . So my poll question is simple: has your linux (note lower case 'l': not necessarily Mint, feel free to share your experiences with other UNIX-like distros) security has ever been compromised ? Just to clarify:
- please do not send ifs and maybes, I want confirmed cases
- share anything: viruses, hacks, malware; anything involving an attack on your OS (e.g. phishing does not count, nor is your elder brother unplugging your HDD)
- do share as many details as you're comfortable with
- I will not attempt to verify any of your responses, so I'm relying on your honesty here (talking about breaches ...)

As for myself, I have been using Linux for over 10 years, and have never had any security issues whatsoever ... Had my credit card details stolen once (in an internet cafe, duh!) and got phished once (well, almost, I realised what was going on just in time; had to reset some passwords, but no financial damage), but that's about it.

If you have an interesting story, feel free to share, but please reserve the poll for linux security breaches.
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Pjotr
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by Pjotr »

Never. Not once, during nine years of nearly full-time Linux use (since July, 2006).
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by exploder »

Also never! I have been using Linux since 2003.
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jimallyn
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by jimallyn »

I started using Linux in 2002, and have never had any sort of malware infection. Nor has any Linux user that I know.
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Ark987

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by Ark987 »

This is a tricky question, I did experience some kind of hack in one server in the company that I was working, it was a forgotten server (nobody took responsibility of it) was a Fedora 12 or 14 don remember exactly. It was running a web server with PHP if I remember correctly, our team first noticed a server lockout, unresponsive and restart. Somehow a hacker managed to introduce an image file that create a cronjob to do nasty things. Hopefully was pretty easy to cleanup the system without the need of a 3rd party tool, just using cp, mv, vi, etc. But it was caused by a combination of flaw in the web application, old PHP version, etc, etc.

Bottom line linux is just a kernel, you have to keep an eye on the other software that you install, how you configure and implement your OS security, best practices, blah, blah, blah...

On my personal desktop, since I don't run any kind of server and limit my volatile lab on VMs I haven't experience anything like that.
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by MartyMint »

In 11 years using Linux as my main workstation, 7 days a week, 365 days a year...never, EVER has my system been breached or "compromised".
niowluka

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by niowluka »

Ark987 wrote:This is a tricky question, I did experience some kind of hack in one server in the company that I was working, it was a forgotten server (nobody took responsibility of it) was a Fedora 12 or 14 don remember exactly. It was running a web server with PHP if I remember correctly, our team first noticed a server lockout, unresponsive and restart. Somehow a hacker managed to introduce an image file that create a cronjob to do nasty things. Hopefully was pretty easy to cleanup the system without the need of a 3rd party tool, just using cp, mv, vi, etc. But it was caused by a combination of flaw in the web application, old PHP version, etc, etc.

Bottom line linux is just a kernel, you have to keep an eye on the other software that you install, how you configure and implement your OS security, best practices, blah, blah, blah...

On my personal desktop, since I don't run any kind of server and limit my volatile lab on VMs I haven't experience anything like that.
That's an epic story Ark987. To be honest I was not expecting to see anything about servers, this being a Mint forum (i.e. all 'noob desktop users', sarcasm intended), but this is even better. Image file to create cron job on a webserver ! Blimey !!

Just to clarify, by 'linux' I did mean the OS as whole, kernel + shell / software. Unofficial repos anyone ?
rbmorse

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by rbmorse »

I had a browser hijack once, but that was a Flash exploit rather than anything specific to Linux. Clearing the browser cache (and removing Flashplayer) fixed it.
niowluka

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by niowluka »

rbmorse wrote:I had a browser hijack once, but that was a Flash exploit rather than anything specific to Linux. Clearing the browser cache (and removing Flashplayer) fixed it.
That's definitely the kind of breach I'm interested in. Any more details ?

EDIT: wording
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by mike acker »

survey needs to be re-written:
  • YES
  • not to my knowlege
the trouble with "hacks" is..... the really good ones take exceptional -- and i do mean exceptional -- pains to make sure you do not discover that you are hacked. good recent example: DUQU/2

the one solution to this that i have come in contact with was published by Wolfgang Stiller ( Stiller Research ) as Integrity Master

this was a software inventory control program. it kept a control list of what was supposed to be installed on your 'puter and allowed you to run an audit anytime you wanted to. or an update if you updated/added/deleted an app. way cool. UEFI addresses this idea but not to the extent that Stiller did . Stiller used a bootable floppy disk; today some kind of "live" system would be needed. (you have to use an O/S known to be clean)

the threats we face now are becoming much more serious: governments. there's at least a dozen articles published in the last day or so on Hacking Team here's a reference to get started on

when governments get involved they can and do strong-arm corporations -- and also hit them with a gag order, e.g. PRISM . they can -- and have done worse than strong-arming software builders : malware can be built into the firmware of many different devices,..... USB drives, hard drives, graphics cards...... where you find "firmware" you also find questions,-- air gap? good idea. use a CD for transport; no USB devices.

governments are intense about this, and in many,-- if not most,-- cases they are looking for dissidents -- political opposition. this is a violation of human rights. we are heading into some rough water friends,--
"If you sacrifice your values because you're afraid, you don't care about those values very much."
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niowluka

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by niowluka »

mike acker wrote: survey needs to be re-written...
Thanks mike acker, but that's exactly the stuff I did not want to see in this poll, there have been more than enough other topics on here discussing this.

Please keep it simple, yes or no, confirmed cases.
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Pilosopong Tasyo
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by Pilosopong Tasyo »

niowluka wrote:there have been numerous bits of news recently with end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it security threats: shellshock, jellyfish, firmware hacking, hacks on Kaspersky and countless other cases ...
Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that whenever it comes to positive things about Linux (e.g. news, shows, movies, et al), media outlets don't mention Linux by name but rather some generic term (if ever it gets mentioned at all). But when it comes to anything bad about Linux, you can bet these same media outlets won't have any problem mentioning it. :roll:

/showerthoughts

Edit: I voted NO. Never had any of my installations compromised since 2009. :twisted:

Then again, I don't run web-facing servers. All are desktops.
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by mike acker »

niowluka wrote:
mike acker wrote: survey needs to be re-written...
Thanks mike acker, but that's exactly the stuff I did not want to see in this poll, there have been more than enough other topics on here discussing this.

Please keep it simple, yes or no, confirmed cases.
as I explained: your survey is poorly worded and should not be answered.
¡Viva la Resistencia!
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by mike acker »

Pilosopong Tasyo wrote:
niowluka wrote:there have been numerous bits of news recently with end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it security threats: shellshock, jellyfish, firmware hacking, hacks on Kaspersky and countless other cases ...
Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that whenever it comes to positive things about Linux (e.g. news, shows, movies, et al), media outlets don't mention Linux by name but rather some generic term (if ever it gets mentioned at all). But when it comes to anything bad about Linux, you can bet these same media outlets won't have any problem mentioning it. :roll:
{snip}
the media is highly commercial as I'm sure we all know. Linux and particularly the whole open/free software movement are definitely counter-culture. perhaps even the millenial Summer of Love,-- Counter Culture movement

just this morning over U of M NPR news I hear the FBI is griping about communications going dark on them. the thing that worries me is that governments may strong-arm service providers into purging any commo they can't de-cipher,--
¡Viva la Resistencia!
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by Pjotr »

mike acker wrote:
niowluka wrote:
mike acker wrote: survey needs to be re-written...
Thanks mike acker, but that's exactly the stuff I did not want to see in this poll, there have been more than enough other topics on here discussing this.

Please keep it simple, yes or no, confirmed cases.
as I explained: your survey is poorly worded and should not be answered.
Well, it's not a scientific research project..... :)

I expect that the OP just wants a rough, quick-and-dirty survey as to the *practical* (not theoretical) level of danger from Linux malware. As such, I think the results might be interesting....
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niowluka

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by niowluka »

Pjotr wrote:Well, it's not a scientific research project.....

I expect that the OP just wants a rough, quick-and-dirty survey as to the *practical* (not theoretical) level of danger from Linux malware. As such, I think the results might be interesting....
Thanks Pjotr, my intentions exactly.

It's just a forum, for pete's sake, let's try and chill and have a lighthearted poll.
uberdorf

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by uberdorf »

In 6 years or more of my family using linux primarily, our computers have not been hacked to my knowledge until possibly this morning with linux Mint Cinnamon 17.2, which I asked about in another thread. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=204739 My kids primarily use the computers for watching videos (flash), playing flash games, and playing minecraft with random java mods. All of that I consider high risk stuff. We were using Ubunut until the last month or two, and my concern was not so much hacking but bad updates being pushed by Ubuntu that would crash my computers (sometimes twice a year on most of my computers), and also the Ubuntu spying on users issue. That is why I switched distros, because I got tired of my wife and kids blaming me for computers crashing when Ubuntu pushed a bad update lol.
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by Fred Barclay »

As far as I am aware...
No, no, and NO!
As Pjotr says, "Relax. You're running Linux." :) (Hope you don't mind me quoting you.)

When I was an absolute newbie, I blamed every bug or program crash on my being cracked. I spent a lot of time doing "paranoia reinstalls". Eventually I realised that:
(a) This isn't Windows! I'm extremely unlikely to have real, honest-to-goodness malware as long as I'm not stupid. I never added any additional PPAs, so that was good.
(b) If someone is good enough to really get in and me not notice it, they'd likely install some sort of malicious firmware. Reinstalling Mint isn't going to get rid of the firmware.
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Crewp

Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by Crewp »

Never been hacked, or infected with malware etc. on any Linux Distro I have ever used.
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Re: Linux hacked ?!

Post by z31fanatic »

I've only been playing with Linux for 2.5 years and no I haven't had any problems. But then again, I've never had any issues in Windows or Mac OS either (I use all three platforms) and I've been computing in Windows since 2000 and in Mac OS since 2011.
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