>> One plan I think is rather valuable is to simply run the server and watch it
>> very carefully.
 
That would make it a honey pot in production. I would advise more active measures (if you have access/control/contact over the network/firewalls).
 
Ron


From: [email protected] on behalf of Jonathan Hutchins
Sent: Fri 2/25/2005 5:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Server Saga

On Friday 25 February 2005 03:56 pm, Brian Densmore wrote:

> since you apparently had already been hacked prior to the
> reinstall (evidenced by the rm -rf /), I would wager that
> your reload from the image you have here is already rooted.

Nope.  Checked that.  The image was several weeks old, and while an exploit
may have been planted, then used at a later date, I think this is unlikely. 
Any traces of the actual cause of the file disappearence was lost with the
restore.  (Personally, I am a bit suspicious that the primary client may have
screwed something up.)

Having made a full restore and run for most of a week, hardware failure
dosen't look likely, and the S.M.A.R.T. utils I subsequently installed don't
indicate it.

> Of course it could also be that the cracker is watching the
> system and actively rooting it, so that when you re-installed
> whatever method was previously used to crack the system was
> used again in short order.

That is a distinct possibility - not exactly short order, but we may be on his
list of easy marks.  Then again, while there is a certain amusement to be had
it simply destroying a system, it's not the way most people spend a lot of
their time.  I suppose one of the clients on the server could have annoyed
someone sufficiently to motivate a repeated attack.

> So, in either case I think a little research is in order to determine
> how to keep this particular bad guy out.

Um, yes.  I believe that's implied in my earlier query.  In particular, there
is the kernel update, and I will be looking for further ways to tighten CGI
security, as well as looking for other clues.

One plan I think is rather valuable is to simply run the server and watch it
very carefully.
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