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A recently surfaced software leak poses a threat to millions of computers, servers, websites, and routers. Through the leak, which was christened Shellshock, attackers can remotely send malicious code and take over the full operation of computers.
What is the Shellshock leak
? software leak is already about 25 years old, but has only now been discovered by a French software specialist. The specific bug is in Bash, a program that Unix software controls. It is used by the operating systems Linux and Mac OS X. However, there are Windows computers are vulnerable because many websites run on Linux servers, and can be manipulated. That way
Hackers can leak through an entire computer system in full, warn security experts. That would not only give them access to data and files, but also to allow to change that information and remove in the worst case even without having to leave. Traces of them
How dangerous is the leak
According to computer experts, the leak dangerous than the Heart Bleed-bug , which earlier this year was much to do. It also represents a greater threat than the leak. With Heart Bleed hackers were able to spy on what data computer users and surfers leave on devices and websites. However, they could not control the device itself to take over. That’s totally different here.
“The method to misuse the leak is much easier ,” says cyber expert Dan Guido on The Guardian. “It’s just a matter of a line code to copy and paste to get good results.” Another Internet security firm assessed the leak with a thick “ten” on the scale of severity and notes that the leak is indeed relatively easy to exploit would be hackers.
Heart Bleed endangered 500,000 computers while Shellshock a threat can forms for a whopping 500 million computers .
Should I worry
Despite the fact that the end game of hackers is ultimately to take over computers there have been no reports made incidents where that was actually the case. Yet there is reason for concern . Indeed, many experts believe that the first things will offer because Bash is so widespread soon. The first attacks are already a fact.
“We suspect that people will use to attract these vulnerabilities and that the scope of the abuse so his wide many unpredictable ways,” warns Robert Horto NCC Groups European Security Consulting. “This could have a negative effect.”
What can I do
There is no quick-fix for Shell Shock . Change passwords, as was the case with Heart Bleed, nothing to fix this leak. The last install security updates , once available, can never hurt anyway. Anyone who manages Web servers on which a vulnerable system running, should do the same. But Linux distributor Red Hat is still working on a patch that the leak must be completely sealed. An initial repair update appeared namely not completely waterproof.
Apple will give attend any comment, but it is expected that the company is working on updates which hackers no longer pose a threat to the systems of their Mac OS X users. Until then it is anxiously wait and hope the defense can stand against the hackers. Sufficient
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