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Did Lilu Ransomware Really Infect Linux Servers

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Linux
Server
Security

Note that the domain name of this folder has been hidden from view making it impossible for us to verify if these files were actually on a Linux server. The article goes on to note that “Lilocked doesn't encrypt system files, but only a small subset of file extensions, such as HTML, JS, CSS, PHP, INI, and various image file formats. This means infected servers continue to run normally.”

This limitation raises the obvious question of whether the core of the Linux server itself has been compromised or whether merely applications connected to the core have been hacked. There are many very insecure website building applications such as Wordpress and many insecure web mail applications such as Exim that have been repeatedly hacked over the years. Both Wordpress and Exim have suffered from dozens of major security problems that have nothing to do with the security of the Linux operating system which is at the core of all Linux servers. All of the file formats mentioned in the article are files used on Wordpress websites and files that can be transmitted via Exim email programs.

[...]

So instead of 6000 websites on 6000 servers being infected, it looks more like 6000 files on less than 1000 websites were infected. And many of these websites could have been on the same server – meaning that perhaps only a couple dozen out of the worlds 10 million Linux servers had infected files – and none of the files were actually in the core of any Linux servers.

[...]

Many of these articles were exact copies of the Zdnet article. Thus far, not a single so-called “security expert” has bothered either to look into the evidence provided much less challenge or disagree with this silly claim.

Instead, make even more extreme claims, noting that there are millions of Linux servers running outdated, un-patched and insecure versions of Exim software. This is a fact. But given how many holes have been found in the Exim software, the problem is not with the Linux servers, it is with the Exim software. In my humble opinion, the design of Exim is not secure and the design of Postfix is more secure.

The solution to this Exim problem is to demand that Cpanel support support Postfix and to ask Debian to also switch from Exim to Postfix (something Ubuntu has already done for very obvious reasons). This is the benefit of the diversity of free open source software. If one program has problems, there is quite often a more secure alternative that can be installed with just the click of a button. This is a problem that has been going on for years. But it can be fixed in a matter of minutes.

Read more

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