Have you heard about the new release of the open-source Linux command sudo? It comes with improved auditing, logging, and security. . Sudo is one of the most powerful and dangerous tools in the Unix or Linux system administrator's toolbox. With it, an ordinary user can run commands just as if he or she were the superuser or any other user. Now, One Identity, the company behind the utility, has released a new version of sudo, called sudo 1.9, which gives it better auditing, logging, and security than ever before. . Sudo provides enhanced oversight, tracking, and protection for Linux sysadmins, amplifying command authority.. Sudo Command, Auditing Capabilities, Open Source Command Tool, System Administration Tool. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
More than 70 government-owned domains hit, and nearly half of the overall infections are in the U.S. Researchers have discovered a major botnet operating out of the Ukraine that has infected 1.9 million machines, including large corporate and government PCs mainly in the U.S. . Aside from its massive size and scope, what is also striking about the botnet is what its malware can do to an infected machine. The malware lets an attacker read the victim's email, communicate via HTTP in the botnet, inject code into other processes, visit Websites without the user knowing, and register as a background service on the infected machine, for instance. The bots communicate with their command and control systems via HTTP. Botnet expert Joe Stewart says it appears to be similar to other downloader-type botnets. "It looks a lot like other downloader bots out there," says Stewart, director of malware research for SecureWorks. "It has a system for installing other malware and getting paid for it. The first stage is to get the bot piece onto the machine, and then they get paid to install other malware." The link for this article located at DarkReading is no longer available. . Uncovering an extensive malware network impacting close to 2 million computers, primarily targeting entities in America.. massive botnet, malware threats, U.S. government, infected machines. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Operating under the theory that if you kill the head, the body will follow, a group of high-profile security researchers is ramping up efforts to find and disable the command-and-control infrastructure that powers millions of zombie drone machines, or bots, hijacked by malicious hackers. . The idea is to open up a new reporting mechanism for ISPs and IT administrators to report botnet activity, especially the C&C (command-and-control) system that remotely sends instructions to botnets. A botnet, which is short for "robot network," is a collection of broadband-enabled computers that have been commandeered by hackers for use in spam runs, distributed denial-of-service attacks or malware installation. The link for this article located at eWeek is no longer available. . The idea is to open up a new reporting mechanism for ISPs and IT administrators to report botnet act. operating, under, theory, follow, group, high-profile. . Brittany Day
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