Screensavers, smiley packs, little animated desktop companions and their ilk have, for a very long time, been a big part of the Windows malware ecosystem, because they’re the kind of thing that specifically appeals to the type of user who doesn’t know any better. For awhile, Linux has managed to avoid this, but a screensaver on gnome-look.org has been found to do very bad things:
Malware has been found hidden inside an innocuous ‘waterfall’ screensaver .deb file made available on popular artwork sharing site Gnome-Look.org.
The .deb file installs a script with elevated privileges designed to perform a DDoS attack as well as keep itself updated via downloads.
The dodgy screensaver in question has since been removed from gnome-look and this incident was a very basic, if potentially successful, attempt.
If anything this incident highlights the need to be careful what you download and where you download it from.
Nothing new in the Windows world, of course, but a pleasant reminder that Linux intrinsically do anything to prevent users from doing stupid crap.
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