Hackers break into Linux 'home'

Even if it is not as high-profile as Windows or Mac OS X, the Linux operating system came under attack from hackers, who broke into the primary site for its kernel source. Administrators of the Linux Kernel Archives (www.kernel.org) said they discovered the security breach August 28, but said the breach may have occurred weeks before. "While we currently believe that the source code repositories were unaffected, we are in the process of verifying this and taking steps to enhance security across the kernel.org infrastructure," they said on the site's main page. The site administrators said intruders gained root access on the server Hera, possible via a compromised user credential. Files belonging to ssh (openssh, openssh-server and openssh-clients) were modified and running live while a trojan startup file was added to the system start up scripts. So far, the administrators said they have taken boxes offline to do a backup and are in the process of doing complete reinstalls. "We have notified authorities in the United States and in Europe to assist with the investigation," they added. The administrators also said they are working with the 448 users of kernel.org to change their credentials and change their SSH keys. A separate article on PC World said the hack is worrying because Kernel.org is where Linux distributors download the source code for Linux's kernel. "But Kernel.org's note says that, even with root access, it would be difficult for a hacker to slip malicious source code into the Linux kernel without it being noticed. That's because Linux's change-tracking system takes a cryptographic hash of each file at the time it is published," it said. — TJD, GMA News