This is a great object lesson to the public regarding the fact that Linux boxes can be hacked just as anything else can. We need more security training for everyone who will be administering a Linux system. Even if there is nothing particularly sensitive on your system, you do NOT want it being used as a bot!
That said - for larger organizations, hosting a critical application on swarms of little boxes isn't the answer. I suppose there's a reason why some people might call me a "mainframe bigot." For large-scale applications that need extreme reliability and uptime, along with the least likelihood of penetration by hackers, host them on IBM "big iron." If you have a lot of *nix boxes of any flavor, you're going to save a ton of money by way of electric power, floor space, and support time by switching over.
I'm not the guilty party in this tale. Many years ago, I worked at an IBM 370 mainframe shop. Somehow, a young fellow leaned over in such a way that his pants pocket caught on the emergency pull switch. Everything went down, and an IBM service rep had to come out to restart the machine.
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This is a great object lesson to the public regarding the fact that Linux boxes can be hacked just as anything else can. We need more security training for everyone who will be administering a Linux system. Even if there is nothing particularly sensitive on your system, you do NOT want it being used as a bot! That said - for larger organizations, hosting a critical application on swarms of little boxes isn't the answer. I suppose there's a reason why some people might call me a "mainframe bigot." For large-scale applications that need extreme reliability and uptime, along with the least likelihood of penetration by hackers, host them on IBM "big iron." If you have a lot of *nix boxes of any flavor, you're going to save a ton of money by way of electric power, floor space, and support time by switching over.
I'm not the guilty party in this tale. Many years ago, I worked at an IBM 370 mainframe shop. Somehow, a young fellow leaned over in such a way that his pants pocket caught on the emergency pull switch. Everything went down, and an IBM service rep had to come out to restart the machine.