If you downloaded Linux Mint on Saturday, attackers might have a back door on your computer.
“Hackers made a modified Linux Mint ISO, with a backdoor in it, and managed to hack our website to point to it,” Clement Lefebvre, one of Mint’s creators, wrote in a blog post over the weekend (via Ars Technica). The post also recommended anyone running the corrupted system totally wipe their systems and change all of their online passwords.
The attack is specific to Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon edition, and only applies to people who downloaded that ISO from the website: BitTorrent users aren’t affected, and neither are Mint users who updated from previous versions using apt-get or other methods. But if you downloaded a Cinnamon ISO from the Mint website on Saturday, February 20, Lefebvre recommends taking action immediately.
“Delete the ISO,” Lefebvre wrote. “If you burnt it to DVD, trash the disc. If you burnt it to USB, format the stick.”
And if you actually installed the corrupted Mint version? The steps are even more severe. To quote Lefebvre, users should:
If you want to know if you’re infected, the blog post offers valid MD5 signatures for the installation ISOs.
It’s not known who carried out the attack, and what motivates the attackers, but the hacked ISOs were hosted by a server in Sofia, Bulgaria.
It hasn’t been a great couple of months for Linux’s security reputation. In December a bootloader bug revealed at a Polytechnic University Cybersecurity Group showed that you can hack most Linux distros by hitting the backspace key 28 times.
“If more efforts are made to attack our project and if the goal is to hurt us, we’ll get in touch with authorities and security firms to confront the people behind this,” wrote Lefebvre.
Every operating system has its share of vulnerabilities, and it’s good that Mint’s were noticed early. Here’s hoping the Mint team can get everything under control before any more corrupted ISOs are distributed.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
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"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.