Linux/Moose Worm Brute-Forces Weak Passwords for Router Attacks

A new worm targeting Linux routers is exploiting them not through a vulnerability per se, but rather by simply brute-forcing weak passwords, according to researchers at ESET. The malware, which researchers have dubbed Linux/Moose, could be used for a wide variety of purposes -- including DNS hijacking, DDoSing, and deep network penetration -- but so far attackers only seem to be using it for tame social networking fraud. Moose intercepts unencrypted network traffic and its main payload is a generic proxy service.