A newly identified Linux botnet is relying on decade-and-a-half-old exploits and techniques, cybersecurity company Flare reports. Dubbed SSHStalker, the botnet uses multiple 2009-era tools and mechanics, including an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) bot and 19 Linux kernel exploits. According to Flare, the botnet is rather noisy, executing a cron job every minute for persistence and using a watchdog ‘update’ relaunch model, and deploying various scanners and malware on the infected machines. SSHStalker artifacts resemble known Romanian-linked botnet operations such as Outlaw and Dota, but no direct link to the legacy Linux campaigns was found, suggesting that a derivative operator, a copycat, or an Outlaw-linked threat actor is behind the botnet. The botnet’s infection chain involves the…