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Malware - trying to fix the system by re-installing linux using a bootable USB stick

Last posted Mar 04, 2019 at 02:05PM EST. Added Mar 02, 2019 at 06:04AM EST
6 posts from 4 users

I have two questions i need help with:

Firstly, when you suspect your pc (running linux mint 19.1 cinnamon) might be infected with malware/ a virus, is it safe to create a bootable USB stick on said infected system to reinstall the distro from scratch? Or could the malware also "infect" the usb stick one is trying to create and then just reinstall itself with the new system (hiding in the iso file or something along those lines).

Secondly, is it possible that a virus/ malware infects your machine running linux mint 19.1 cinnamon simply by getting a few files from a infected machine running ubuntu 18.04 via USB?

1. This is more of a Nixcraft question than a Know Your Meme one
2. Theoretically, yes, a sophisticated-enough virus could control every aspect of your system, regardless of the underlying OS. That having been said, I doubt you'd have any issues burning a disk image, but if you want to be safe then go ahead and use a second machine.
3. Only if the files were marked as executable and you or some other program ran them.

Last edited Mar 02, 2019 at 12:14PM EST

Technically it could modify the iso, yes. But this is unlikely.
Here's what you can do:
1. Download the ISO from the official website for whatever distro you're trying to install.

2. Open a terminal and cd into the directory with the ISO in it.

3. Run

shasum -a 256 *.iso

OR
openssl dgst -sha256 *.iso

4. Compare this value to the SHA-256 checksum on the distro's site. If they are using another algorithm, adjust the command as needed. For example:

openssl dgst -md5 *.iso

if they are using md5.

5. If the values match, you're good to go. Follow these instructions to create the drive.

Last edited Mar 03, 2019 at 03:56AM EST

Jacobcullen wrote:

I have two questions i need help with:

Firstly, when you suspect your pc (running linux mint 19.1 cinnamon) might be infected with malware/ a virus, is it safe to create a bootable USB stick on said infected system to reinstall the distro from scratch? Or could the malware also "infect" the usb stick one is trying to create and then just reinstall itself with the new system (hiding in the iso file or something along those lines).

Secondly, is it possible that a virus/ malware infects your machine running linux mint 19.1 cinnamon simply by getting a few files from a infected machine running ubuntu 18.04 via USB?

I have two questions i need help with:

Firstly, when you suspect your pc (running linux mint 19.1 cinnamon) might be infected with malware/ a virus, free netflix tech news android 9 is it safe to create a bootable USB stick on said infected system to reinstall the distro from scratch? Or could the malware also "infect" the usb stick one is trying to create and then just reinstall itself with the new system (hiding in the iso file or something along those lines).

Secondly, is it possible that a virus/ malware infects your machine running linux mint 19.1 cinnamon simply by getting a few files from a infected machine running ubuntu 18.04 via USB?

Last edited Mar 04, 2019 at 02:48AM EST

This was a spambot (the second post had utterly unrelated spam links hidden into it). I'm just here contemplating what to do with this thread, although I can't really see it become a funny Riff-Raff thread the advice is somewhat useable-ish.

Struggles man. iDroid got owned at least.

RandomMan wrote:

This was a spambot (the second post had utterly unrelated spam links hidden into it). I'm just here contemplating what to do with this thread, although I can't really see it become a funny Riff-Raff thread the advice is somewhat useable-ish.

Struggles man. iDroid got owned at least.

I just like to flex my Linux chops mang.

Skeletor-sm

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