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FTP Hacking on the Rise

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the how-long-before-a-protocol-becomes-retro dept.

yahoi writes "The disco-era File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is making a comeback, but not in a good way — spammers are now using the old-school file transfer technology to serve up bot malware, and even as a backdoor into some enterprises that neglect to lock down their oft-forgotten FTP servers. Researchers at F-Secure have spotted a new wave of exploits that use FTP — rather than a malicious URL, or an email attachment — to deliver their malware payloads because few gateways scan for FTP attachments these days."

14 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. What's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gopher?

    1. Re:What's next? by gnick · · Score: 5, Funny

      Gophers are actually not that hard to hack, although most of my experience is with prairie dogs. About 250 yards out with a decent scope and 'opening a port' is not that hard. Known exploit.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:What's next? by PitaBred · · Score: 2, Funny

      Every try opening a port with a .30-06? You don't have much left to hack...

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
    3. Re:What's next? by 3p1ph4ny · · Score: 2, Funny

      It depends on the architecture.

    4. Re:What's next? by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Funny

      WARNING: Attempting to hack Groundhogs may result in an infinite loop.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    5. Re:What's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Prairie dog or gopher, you're gonna have the same thing left, just different DNA ;)

  2. And the newest exploit... by downix · · Score: 4, Funny

    They have conquered WWW and Email, now FTP, next on their list... NTP! Yes, hacking through your clock, I can see it now! Malware which will make you either cronically early, or late!

    --
    Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
    1. Re:And the newest exploit... by Idiomatick · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oddly enough this post showed up as 4th on google right after your post. Time loop?

  3. Dear Internets by phoxix · · Score: 2, Funny
    Lets kill FTP once and for all! It doesn't serve a purpose anymoar! Its been replaced with HTTP, Rsync, and BT!

    k thx bye!

  4. Re:Uh oh by winkydink · · Score: 5, Funny

    Agree. The disco era ended sometime in the late 70's / early 80's. Of course, that's before half of the /. posters were born, so it's understandable that they wouldn't know this.

    Hey! You! Get off my lawn!

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  5. Re:Uh oh by B3ryllium · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... you probably recycle your waste electrons, too, don't you?

  6. Re:Uh oh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The disco era ended sometime in the late 70's / early 80's. It didn't end, it just got too cool for you.

    -- Disco Stu
  7. Re:FTP Attachment? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 2, Funny
    >What the hell is a "FTP attachment"?

    Doesn't make sense.

    I've only skimmed the summary, but from what I can tell it's something bad that you can get from the tubes like a malicious 'IM file' or a dodgy 'virus bug' that you might get from a pirated CD or something.

    --
    Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
  8. Re:Uh oh by nschubach · · Score: 2, Funny

    Disco is NOT dead. Disco is LIFE!

    --
    Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.