According to Ubuntu’s weekly newsletter, they have quite the problem on their hands at the moment.

This last week, 5 of the 8 servers that are LoCo hosted but Canonical sponsored, had to be shut down due to reports that they were actively attacking other machines. These servers were found to have a variety of problems including, but not limited to, missing security patches, FTP (not sftp, without SSL) was being used to access the machines, and no upgrades past breezy due to problems with the network cards and later kernels. Loco teams will be given a choice to: a. migrate to the Canonical data center, or b. stay on the hosted/outsourced servers. Each option has its good and bad points. Jono Bacon has therefore called for a meeting to discuss these issues.

Missing security patches? Insecure FTP? Problems with hardware and kernels? Seems to me this mess could’ve been easily avoidable had someone actually been paying attention to these servers. Live and learn.