Do not start by killing the miner or wiping the server. First contain the suspected compromise and preserve evidence; then investigate whether the intrusion reached credentials, other systems, or backups. If compromise is confirmed, the safer path is usually a trusted rebuild or a verified clean backup—not just removing the mining process. Bring the AI service back only after fixing the access weakness and validating the restored system.
1. Contain the host without destroying evidence
Restrict the server’s network access using the hosting provider’s, cloud platform’s, or network’s control plane where possible. Follow your incident-response plan and involve your security team immediately. Red Hat’s RHEL malware guidance says: “If any indication of compromise is detected, the first point of escalation must be your organization’s security team.” If you do not have an internal response capability, CISA’s guidance suggests seeking outside incident-response support when needed.
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Before cleanup, preserve relevant system, authentication, cloud, container, and network logs, along with suspicious files or other artifacts. If your response plan and available expertise allow, capture volatile memory and a forensic image before wiping or rebuilding. Keep evidence in a protected location and record who collected it and when, according to your organization’s procedures.
- Do not treat killing a high-CPU process, rebooting, or running an antivirus scan as proof that the incident is contained or resolved.
- Avoid actions that erase evidence until the security team has assessed retention and investigative needs.
- Keep the isolated server off production networks while the incident is being assessed.
CISA’s containment guidance recommends isolation and evidence collection before mitigation. The right isolation method depends on your hosting and network setup; there is no safe universal command for every Linux server.
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2. Find out what else may be affected
Use trusted administrative access from a clean device, not credentials or tools that may have been exposed on the suspect host. Investigate the timeline and likely entry point, and determine whether the miner is one symptom of a broader intrusion.
- Review authentication events, privilege changes, and accounts or keys that were added or modified.
- Check for unexpected services, scheduled jobs, startup configuration, package changes, and deployments.
- Review outbound network activity and relevant cloud, container, orchestration, and network logs.
- Assess whether other hosts, containers, orchestrators, attached storage, or credentials may be involved.
These are investigation areas, not a complete cryptominer checklist. Red Hat’s Linux malware guidance describes modification of /etc/crontab as a Trickbot persistence method; that example does not mean every miner changes cron, or that checking cron is enough to establish a clean host.
A CISA archived advisory about a 2022 incident on a federal network describes a miner as part of an intrusion that also involved credential theft and lateral movement. That case is a reason to check the incident’s scope, not evidence that this server has the same infection or attack path.
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3. Choose a restoration path
For a confirmed compromise, Red Hat’s general RHEL malware guidance says safe restoration will usually involve completely erasing storage and reinstalling, or restoring from a trusted backup. Red Hat’s Trickbot response likewise notes that reinstallation and data restoration may be the easiest resolution. Preserve required evidence before erasure, and do not reconnect the rebuilt host until the exploited software or access weakness has been addressed.
| Path | Best fit | Check before choosing |
|---|---|---|
| Rebuild from trusted installation media or a trusted image | You need a clean operating-system baseline, or you cannot establish that the existing system is trustworthy. | Confirm the image and software sources are trusted, preserve evidence first, and identify and fix the initial access route before reconnecting. |
| Restore from a trusted backup | A backup is available that predates the compromise and contains the data and service components you need. | Establish that the backup is clean and complete, keep recovery systems from being reinfected, and restore in line with your organization’s evidence-retention requirements. |
The decision depends on whether a backup can be trusted, what evidence must be retained, what it contains, and how quickly critical service must return. CISA’s recovery guidance recommends offline encrypted backups, prioritizing critical services, and preventing reinfection of clean systems. Do not assume a backup is safe merely because it exists.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.4. Restore the AI service in controlled stages
Restore only required workloads and data from known-clean sources. Use your organization’s deployment procedures to validate the restored environment before broad network reconnection. The following checks are operational guidance for an AI server; the cited guidance does not prescribe AI-specific recovery commands or tests.
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- Establish a clean base. Install or restore the operating system and required software from trusted sources, apply current security fixes, and verify that the access weakness identified during investigation has been corrected.
- Restore selectively. Bring back only necessary data, model assets, containers, and configuration from sources assessed as clean. Keep credentials and secrets under review rather than copying them forward automatically.
- Validate the stack. Follow deployment procedures to check the operating system, container or orchestration layer, model files, credentials, network exposure, and application health.
- Reconnect by priority. Return critical services first and expand access in stages, monitoring for unexpected activity as each workload comes online.
Use CISA’s recovery principles—service prioritization, offline encrypted backups, and protection against reinfection—to guide the sequence. The exact validation checks and order depend on your AI platform and deployment design.
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After recovery, address the cause of entry and improve the controls around the server and its backups. Red Hat’s guidance recommends trusted software sources, security updates, configuration review, least privilege, strong passwords, and SELinux policies. Apply controls appropriate to your distribution and organizational policy.
- Patch the vulnerable or exposed software identified during the incident, and review configuration before returning the host to service.
- Rotate credentials that may have been exposed, doing so from clean systems and in coordination with the incident assessment.
- Separate production and test environments, and limit accounts and services to the access they need.
- Maintain rotated backups, including offline encrypted copies where appropriate; protect backup infrastructure and test restoration regularly.
A separate drive can hold an offline copy, but the device alone does not make a secure backup system. Backup protection, rotation, and tested recovery matter too.
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