For me, it’s not enough to verify the integrity of an ISO – I also have to verify its authenticity (or at least verify the checksum file) with GPG. I don’t know why, but just need to see that “Good signature” message before I feel safe installing Linux.
I notice, though, that the download pages of some prominent distros (Pop_OS!, openSUSE, etc) just give you a checksum, probably because they feel that anything else is unnecessary. This makes me shy away from installing them, which is a shame because I’d like to give some of those distros a try on bare metal.
Am I being paranoid when it comes to installing Linux?
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You know which site you’re getting it from…check the SSL certificate and that’s enough. If an official site got breached it’d be found out pretty quickly.
There’s no relation whatsoever been the website certificate and the files it serves. And anyway the ISOs are downloaded from somewhere else like an FTP site, not from the website.
There have been cases where a breach that added malware to downloads went unnoticed for quite a while.
GPG signing with a key that’s already be published and distributed in advance is the only really secure option.
This point just compile from source
Somebody could’ve pushed malware in the code, write all software yourself.
Someone could’ve pushed a malicious compiler. Better write all the bits by hand.
deleted by creator
Someone could’ve compromised the materials used to build the CPU, better assemble the atoms together one by one.
Someone could’ve hidden something malicious in all that empty space between the atoms, better come up with a whole new structure of the universe
Someone could have hidden something malicious within your ideas, better create a whole new conceptual system.
What is the benefit of a gpg signature over a checksum? In either case you have to trust someone.
Going a little overboard there in my opinion. If one of the major distributions would catch something sketchy, a whole bunch of tech savy would be all over it in no time.
(My opinion) No, you aren’t paranoid. I’m thinking a bit like you, but I also consider probabilities. You need to download the checksums from the official website and the ISO from mirrors. Two different sources would need to be hacked. This is where I say, it’s hard and secondly someone would notice that hack very quickly.
Signing the ISO or the checksums with a well-known signature is still important. I verify it, if a signature available. It’s just a couple of seconds and doesn’t cost anything.
