Staying one step ahead of the intruders
Delousing
After detecting a rootkit, the only thing that really helps is to completely reinstall the infected system – the malicious software digs far too deep into a system to let you remove it with any degree of certainty. In this light, it makes sense to do everything you can to prevent a rootkit from compromising your system. Prevention is the only real answer – particularly, installing security patches. To prevent malware exploiting them, you need to make sure that you close all known vulnerabilities.
Latest and Greatest
The principle of using the latest software also applies to rootkit scanners. Zeppoo [7] is almost two years old, for example, and fails to detect any of the current crop of rootkits due to total ignorance of their approaches. It is probably best to leave Zeppoo where it is on SourceForge.
The next best obstacle is a firewall, preferably one that controls network traffic in all layers of the TCP/IP stack. For servers in hostile environments, the use of a static kernel and an intrusion detection tool such as OSSEC.
Keep in mind, however, that humans are possibly the biggest attack vector for rootkits. If a user is enticed by phishing mails or enlargement offers, the best security mechanisms are no doubt doomed to failure.
Infos
- Blue Pill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Pill%28malware%29
- Chkrootkit: http://www.chkrootkit.org
- Rootkit Hunter: http://htp://rkhunter.sf.net
- OSSEC: http://www.ossec.net
- Rootcheck signatures: http://www.ossec.net/rootkits
- RK Profiler LX: http://www.trapkit.de/research/rkprofiler/index.html
- Zeppoo: http://sourceforge.net/projects/zeppoo
« Previous 1 2 3 4
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.
-
Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.