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?
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.
Someone could have compromised the CPU interface, better build one from scratch.
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.
Somebody could have pushed Malware in the machines used for building your Cpu Better to just die.