The increase in recent hack attempts are the result of the resent knowlage of a fundamental bug in bash.

It was not a big deal till someone published the flaw before some patches could be issued.

Some folks set-ups are vulnerable. If you run HTTP, you certainly are.

Just a FYI...

SHELLSHOCK  - this is bigger and older than heartbleed.

It is a very big deal for "all" linux systems running http.

http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2014/q3/650       

to check your version of bash, type

cd /bin

bash --version

our acid installs should be at 3.2

Remote ssh devices are possibly at risk.

Current patches may not be entirely effective.

Much more to be known about this.

google shellshock for more info.

...mike/kb8jnm