VERY IMPORTANT

Akamai security researchers discovered Panchan, a new peer-to-peer botnet and SSH worm that emerged in March 2022 and has been actively breaching Linux servers since. Panchan is written in Golang, and utilizes its built-in concurrency features to maximize spreadability and execute malware modules. In addition to the “basic” SSH dictionary attack that is commonplace in most worms, this malware also harvests SSH keys to perform lateral movement. Akamai security researchers were able to gain access to the malware’s communication protocol and its administration panel, and use them to analyze the infection scope of the malware.