Debian Linux sites hacked

Patrick Gray

24 November 2003 02:40 PM

Tags: hacking, patrick, gray, debian, breach, hacked, trojan, security

Several servers belonging to the Debian Project, maintainers of the Debian Linux distribution, were compromised and subsequently pulled offline last week.

The compromise was revealed in a posting to the debian-announce mailing list, with tech news blog Slashdot.org picking it up shortly afterwards.

"This is a very unfortunate incident to report about. Some Debian servers were found to have been compromised in the last 24 hours," the posting read.

Attackers compromised four servers, including those responsible for maintaining the project's bug tracking system, mailing lists, Web, Common Versioning System (CVS), security downloads and others.

"Some of these services are currently not available as the machines undergo close inspection. Some services have been moved to other machines (www.debian.org for example)," the statement added.

The servers appear to have been brought back online at the time of writing.

Debian had been due to release a new point release of Debian GNU/Linux, which had already been distributed to "mirror" sites for download. The updated software was not compromised in the breach.

"This update has now been checked and it is not affected by the compromise," the group's statement read.

Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!

Talkback 3 comments

  1. Who did it ? Khawar Nehal -- 24/11/03

    Who did it ?

  2. Just shows you that Linux is just as fallible as Windows. Where there's a will there's a way. http://www.nurseringtone.com Anonymous -- 25/11/03

    Just shows you that Linux is just as fallible as Windows. Where there's a will there's a way.

    http://www.nurseringtone.com

  3. No Justin, it does not show that Linux is just as fallable as windows, it just shows that Linux has some flaws as well. I think history shows which operating systems have quatatively and qualitatively more security flaws Anonymous -- 27/11/03

    No Justin, it does not show that Linux is just as fallable as windows, it just shows that Linux has some flaws as well. I think history shows which operating systems have quatatively and qualitatively more security flaws

Add your opinion


Sponsored content

Power Centre - Content from our premier sponsors

Blogs

  • Alex Serpo Will the NSW Govt put Linux in schools?
    The NSW Government's release this week of an expressions of interest tender to give low-cost laptops to every senior public school student in NSW is a big step, but will these systems be Windows or Linux?
  • Array Naked Mac versus protected PC: What wins?
    What's easier to manage — 200 Mac OS X systems without antivirus or 200 Windows systems running a leading antivirus package?
  • Array Dear Telstra: pack up your toys, go home
    Rejecting Telstra's proposal, after all, is the only conclusion Conroy can reach: as someone whose entire philosophy is built around transparency and process, he simply cannot keep Telstra as part of the NBN bidding process anymore.
  • More blogs »

Tags

Back to top

Featured