IoT Devices Targeted by New Linux Worms

There is a new Internet of Things (IoT) bricking worm and it is a malware designed to for disable the hardware it infects for good. It is hit Linux-based devices, and it seems to have been behind an attack which took place 14 years ago.

The new software package, dubbed "Silex," is running across the net trying to find Linux systems deployed with default admin credentials. Once it finds such a system, it overwrites all of the system's storage with random information, drops its firewall rules, removes its network configuration, and so restarts the system — effectively rendering the device useless.

Discovered by Larry Cashdollar, a vulnerability scientist and member of Akamai's Security Incident Response Team, the software package is solely destructive; it captures no information and asks for no ransom.

Scientist Ankit Anubhav derived the malware back to its origins and located the developer, WHO uses the web name "Light Leafon." consistent with Anubhav, malware's author says that extra damaging capabilities square measure planned for future Silex variants.

More than two,000 systems have already been broken by Silex, that isn't technically restricted to IoT devices. It may attack any Linux system deployed on the net with open telnet ports and default admin credentials.

Different researchers have noted that the command-and-control servers for Silex have information science addresses coupled to Iran, leading some to invest that political, likewise as merely damaging, aims square measure behind its unleash.