During the weekend of February 20, hackers succeeded in infecting the ISO of Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit with the so-called ‘Tsunami’ malware. This malware is therefore already installed after a 'fresh' installation and provides a back door on every computer that has this version installed. A computer infected with Tsunami can be taken over remotely. This malware is often used for so-called DDoS attacks with botnets.

It is recommended that users should re-format all media to which they have copied the ISO in question, or of this is not possible, to destroy it. If an infected system has been used it is strongly recommended to immediately change all passwords, in particular those of email accounts and banks.

As a precaution, the website www.linuxmint.com has been temporarily taken off-line until the leak has been plugged and to ensure that no further hacks have taken place so that safe versions can be offered again.

More information: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2994